Novaya Gazeta, a Russian independent newspaper, has ceased operations after more than 30 years, leading members of the European Parliament said in a joint statement.
The statement was issued by Ville Niinistö, chair of the delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, Mounir Satouri, chair of the Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, and Sandra Kalniete, the Foreign Affairs Committee’s standing rapporteur on Russia, the parliamentary press service reported on Tuesday.
Novaya Gazeta had been designated a “foreign agent” in September and was later ousted from its Moscow premises and its funding, the MEPs said, quoting the paper’s editors as saying: “Novaya Gazeta was killed.”
The newspaper had reported on “corruption, abuses of power, war crimes and human rights violations” over three decades, from the wars in Chechnya to the invasion of Ukraine, the parliamentarians said.
Six Novaya Gazeta journalists have been murdered since Vladimir Putin came to power, including Anna Politkovskaya, and those responsible have remained unpunished.
Its then editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 for efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.
Calls for EU support for exiled journalists
Novaya Gazeta was described as one of the last critical media voices still operating in Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with its closure following the shutdown of Echo of Moscow and the “forced exile” of outlets including Dozhd and Meduza, the MEPs said.
They also said the dismantling of independent media and civil society groups in Russia has included Memorial, a human rights organisation.
The MEPs paid tribute to Novaya Gazeta staff and said journalists continue its work in exile through Novaya Gazeta Europe, calling on the EU and its member states to increase support for Russian independent media and journalists in exile through “funding, visas and protection”, as well as sanctions against those responsible for repressing independent media.
