“It’s the disappearance of the last independent publication that hasn’t been blocked,” said Andrei Kolesnikov, a political analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center and the paper’s former editor, calling it “a tremendous loss to the vast Internet audience and a disaster for the public.” Fans of the newspaper they read on paper.”
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The Invasion edition – published in Russian and Ukrainian – sold out in hours on February 25. Two weeks later, the cover featured the “Dance of the Swans” from “Swan Lake” silhouetted against a fiery mushroom cloud with the caption “A Problem of ‘Novaya’ Created in Accordance with All the Rules of the Amended Russian Criminal Code.”
The headline eloquently conveyed the difficulties of reporting the war under Russia’s tough new censorship laws; even the words “war,” “invasion,” and “attack” are banned, and the release of information discrediting the military is criminalized. Analysts warn there is no guarantee the restrictions – introduced as harsh war measures amid what the Kremlin is calling an “unprecedented information war” against Russia – will ever be lifted.
Kolesnikov said the only reason the newspaper managed to publish for so long was because of Muratov’s authority.
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“It is difficult to say how long the suspension will last, because even if the ‘special operation’ ends, the authoritarian regime that crushed all independent media in Russia will not go away,” he said. “The Kremlin and Lubyanka can enjoy the total emptiness of an alternative — that is, professional, non-propagandist — information space,” he said, referring to Lubyanka, the headquarters of the FSB, a successor to the KGB.
Since the invasion, Russian authorities have blocked dozens of independent Russian media outlets, including Dozhd Television, whose journalists left Russia, and Echo of Moscow Radio, which was dissolved by its board controlled by the state gas company Gazprom.
Hundreds of journalists have fled the country, although independent media outlets still broadcast news on YouTube and Telegram.
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Novaya Gazeta’s previous coverage of the war, including reports from Ukraine of civilian casualties, has carefully skirted the legal red line. But the coverage apparently still proved too much for Russian authorities amid state television propaganda aimed at uniting the nation behind the war and convincing Russians that the war was a limited, just, and necessary operation annihilation of “Nazis” and protection of Russia. State and pro-Kremlin media blame Ukraine for the massive damage to civilian neighborhoods in Ukrainian cities like Mariupol and Kharkiv.
Novaya Gazeta, with a loyal audience of urban intellectuals, liberals and opposition supporters, has often run afoul of Russian authorities. Six of its journalists were murdered between 2000 and 2009, including Anna Politkovskaya, who fearlessly reported on Russia’s abuses in Chechnya and was shot dead in the elevator of her apartment building in 2006.
The newspaper’s announcement that it would cease publication was included in a brief two-paragraph statement Monday, which came shortly after Roskomnadzor’s warning. Under Russian law, a newspaper can have its license revoked if it receives two warnings within a year. Muratov declined to comment.
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The second warning was not based on the newspaper’s war coverage, but on a technical misdemeanor – an NGO incorrectly labeled a “foreign agent”. (Russia has pressured dozens of activists, journalists and NGOs by labeling them foreign agents.)
Novaya Gazeta’s mission statement is: “Our journalists are not afraid to learn the truth in order to show it to you. In a country where the authorities constantly want to ban something, including a ban on telling the truth, there should be publications that continue to engage in genuine journalism.”
Elena Kostyuchenko risked her life reporting from Ukraine. Her Saturday story from Russian-held Kherson, Ukraine, reported civilian casualties, including children. There were also rallies against the Russian occupation, Russia’s blockade of humanitarian aid to the city, and Russia’s kidnapping and beating of Kherson journalists, activists, protest organizers and Ukrainian military personnel. The article identified a secret prison where those arrested were taken.
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A previous report vividly described civilian bodies in Mykolayiv, including that of a 3-year-old girl. She also described the beautifully manicured hands of a young woman’s corpse.
Another reporter for the newspaper, Elena Milashina, said on social media Monday that she was in the middle of a story about Chechen soldiers, Russian guards and volunteers killed in the war.
“As it is now impossible for me to update readers on Novaya’s pages or website, I will do so on Facebook whenever possible,” she said, who can only be accessed via a VPN. She had three major reporting projects in the works and planned to complete them, saying, “Nobody’s going to do it but me.”
“Right now people are dying in Ukraine because of our guns,” she wrote. “What happens next – with my journalism, my newspaper and my country – we must all find out together. It’s going to be long and hard. Still, I hope we have a future.”
Milashina thanked her loyal readers and even her haters for reading.
Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.
Marina Ovsyannikova stormed onto the set of the flagship program of Russian state television on March 14, holding a placard that read “Stop the war”. (Video: Channel One, Photo: Channel One)