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| Type | Triweekly – Monday, Wednesday, Friday |
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| Format | A2 per spread |
| Owners |
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| Founder | Group of former journalists fromKomsomolskaya Pravda |
| Publisher | ANO RIDNovaya Gazeta |
| Editor-in-chief | Sergei Sokolov |
| Launched | 1 April 1993; 32 years ago (1993-04-01) (Russia) 7 April 2022; 3 years ago (2022-04-07) (Europe) |
| Ceased publication | 28 March 2022 (Russia) |
| Language | Russian, English |
| Headquarters | Moscow (formerly) |
| Country | Russia |
| Circulation | 108,000 (print); 613,000 (online) (as of 2023)[2][3] |
| ISSN | 1682-7384 (print) 1606-4828 (web) |
| OCLC number | 58481623 |
| Website | |
| Free online archives | novayagazeta |
Novaya Gazeta (Russian:Новая газета,lit. 'New[-style] Newspaper',pronounced[ˈnovəjəɡɐˈzʲetə]) is an independent Russian newspaper. It is known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs, theChechen wars,corruption among the ruling elite, andincreasing authoritarianism in Russia.[4][5][6][7] It was formerly published inMoscow until shortly after the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began, in regions within Russia, and in some foreign countries. The print edition is published on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays; English-language articles on the website are published on a weekly basis in the form of theRussia, Explained newsletter. As of 2023, the newspaper had a daily print circulation of 108,000, and online visits of 613,000.[2][3]
SevenNovaya Gazeta journalists, includingYuri Shchekochikhin,Anna Politkovskaya, andAnastasia Baburova, have been murdered since 2000, in connection with their investigations.[8] In October 2021,Novaya Gazeta's editor-in-chiefDmitry Muratov was awarded theNobel Peace Prize, alongsideMaria Ressa, for their safeguarding offreedom of expression in their homelands.[9]
In March 2022, during theRussian invasion of Ukraine, the newspaper suspended publication within Russia due toincreased government censorship.[10] The next month, a European edition of the paper,Novaya Gazeta Europe, was launched from Riga, Latvia, in order to avoid censorship; the website was blocked in Russia later that month.[11][12] In July, the newspaper launched a magazine,Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta,[13] with its website blocked shortly later.[14] In September 2022, Russian authorities revokedNovaya Gazeta's Russian media license.[15]
A group of former journalists fromKomsomolskaya Pravda organised the newspaper in 1993. Its first name wasEzhednevnaya Novaya Gazeta (Daily New Gazette).[16]Mikhail Gorbachev used the money from his 1990Nobel Peace Prize to help establish theNovaya Gazeta and purchase its first computers.[17]
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On 26 November 2001,Novaya Gazeta published an article by Oleg Lurie stating that the management of theInternational Industrial Bank, headed bySergey Pugachyov, had been involved inmoney laundering through theBank of New York.[18] Pugachyov's bank brought alibel suit against the newspaper, citing financial losses, as a number of its customers had allegedly changed the terms of their accounts in a way which made the bank lose money because of the publication of the article. On 28 February 2002, the bankwon the case in Moscow'sBasmanny municipal court, and was awarded 15 millionrubles (about $500,000) in lost revenue, an unprecedented sum for Russian newspapers that might undermine the very existence ofNovaya Gazeta, especially as on 22 FebruaryNovaya Gazeta had been ordered by the same Basmanny court to pay about $1 million for a corruption allegation against theKrasnodar Krai's top judge. In April, the decision in the International Industrial Bank case was reconfirmed by a court. However, in a 27 May 2002 article,Yulia Latynina, aNovaya Gazeta journalist, revealed that the bank's three customers who had been named in the lawsuit were its subsidiaries or otherwise controlled by its board of directors, and claimed thatNovaya Gazeta had requested that acriminal fraud investigation be opened into the activities of the bank.[19] As a result, in June 2002 the International Industrial Bank renounced its claim to the compensation.[20][21]
In 2004, the newspaper printed seven articles by columnist Georgy Rozhnov which accusedSergey Kiriyenko of embezzling US$4.8 billion ofInternational Monetary Fund moneys in 1998 when he wasPrime Minister of Russia.[22] The newspaper based the accusations on a letter allegedly written toColin Powell and signed byU.S. CongressmenPhilip Crane,Mike Pence,Charlie Norwood,Dan Burton, andHenry Bonilla, and posted on the website of the American Defense Council.[23] The newspaper claimed that Kiriyenko had used some of the embezzled funds to purchase real estate in the United States. It was later revealed that the letter was a prank concocted byThe eXile, a Moscow-based tabloid.[23] In response, Kiriyenko suedNovaya Gazeta and Rozhnov for libel, and in passing judgment in favour of Kiriyenko the court orderedNovaya Gazeta to retract all publications relating to the accusations and went on to say that the newspaper "is obliged to publish only officially proven information linking Mr Kiriyenko with embezzlement."[22]
On 13 April 2009, the newspaper was granted the first-ever print interview in a Russian publication with PresidentDmitri Medvedev, in which he discussed issues such ascivil society and thesocial contract, transparency of public officials, and Internet development.[24]
On 26 January 2010, the paper's website was subjected to adenial-of-service cyber attack, and effectively taken offline.[25] As of 1 February 2010, the site was still inaccessible. At the peak of the attack the server was receiving 1.5 million connections per second.[26] The newspaper maintained its online presence by publishing articles on its page onLiveJournal, a Russian-owned social networking service.[27] On 7 April 2011, the website was targeted again with the samebotnet that appeared to be used in a large-scale attack on LiveJournal, which hosted many opposition blogs.[28][29][30][31]
On 25 July 2014, the paper opened with "Vergeef ons, Nederland" / "Прости, Голландия" ("Forgive us, Netherlands" in bothDutch and Russian), in response to theMalaysia Airlines Flight 17 disaster.[32]
In early 2016 the newspaper published an article alleging the existence of a so-called"Blue Whale" game, a social network phenomenon reportedly consisting of a series of initially innocuous tasks assigned to players by administrators, before elements of self-harm are introduced, culminating in a final challenge requiring the player to commit suicide. The publication of the article caused amoral panic to sweep Russia.[33]
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AfterNovaya Gazeta published an investigation in October 2018 by journalist Denis Korotkov about Russian mercenary leader and oligarchYevgeny Prigozhin, Korotkov and theNovaya Gazeta editor-in-chief were the target of threatening deliveries of a severed ram's head and funeral flowers to the newspaper's offices.[34] The style of the threat resembled others byKremlin-linked Prigozhin.[35]
In 2017Novaya Gazeta published reports aboutanti-gay purges in Chechnya, where 3 men were allegedly killed, and dozens detained and intimidated. After publication, theChechen government denied the existence of persecutions in the Republic.[36] The newspaper published a report byElena Milashina and a list of 27 Chechens killed on 26 January 2017. The newspaper also addressed the report and the list to theInvestigative Committee of Russia, and asked the committee to investigate the matter. WhileNovaya Gazeta published the names of 27 killed Chechens in the list, the newspaper said that the real number might be even more, possibly 56.[37] The newspaper said that the allegedly killed Chechens were detained by the local security service, put in custody inside guarded territory owned by theGrozny traffic police regiment, and executed on 26 January both by gunfire and by asphyxiation by State Security forces without filing any legal accusations.[38][39]
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In October 2021,Novaya Gazeta's editor-in-chiefDmitry Muratov was awarded theNobel Peace Prize, alongsideMaria Ressa, for their safeguarding offreedom of expression in their homelands.[9]
Following the start of the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, editor-in-chiefDmitry Muratov stated that the newspaper would publish an edition in both Russian andUkrainian in solidarity.[40] On 4 March 2022, after receiving an official warning fromRoskomnadzor, the Russian federal agency responsible for censoring Russian mass media, the newspaper said it would remove materials and cut reporting on the war.[41] It published materials fromoccupied Kherson and other Ukrainian cities.[42] On 28 March, after it received another warning from Roskomnadzor, the newspaper announced that it would suspend its online and print activities until the end of the "special military operation".[10]
On 7 April 2022, as a result of the crackdown, journalists fromNovaya Gazeta announced the launch ofNovaya Gazeta Europe, with its editor-in-chief,Kirill Martynov, stating thatNovaya Gazeta Europe would be independent fromNovaya Gazeta "both legally and in practice", with its newsroom consisting of staffers who had left Russia.[43] The new outlet would publish articles in other languages aside from Russian, and Martynov stated that the journalists hoped to eventually resume their work in Moscow.[44] On 29 April 2022,Novaya Gazeta Europe announced that its website had been blocked in Russia.[45] On 15 July, staff launched the magazineNovaya Rasskaz-Gazeta, with its first issue containing analysis of Putin's ideology; however by 24 July, the website was blocked in Russia.[14]
On 6 May 2022, the first print issue ofNovaya Gazeta. Europe appeared on newsstands in Riga, Latvia, and online at novayagazeta.eu. The print version is published byRīgas Viļņi in Riga, Latvia.[46]
On 28 July 2022, Roskomnadzor demanded thatNovaya Gazeta's media license be cancelled, claiming that "the editorial office was not providing its editorial statute within the timeframe established by the law on media".[47] On 5 September, theBasmanny District Court in Moscow cancelled the newspaper's license in Russia, which Muratov called "political".[15] That same month theRussian Supreme Court revokedNovaya Gazeta's online license, making it no longer available on the internet in Russia.[48]
On 28 June 2023, theProsecutor-General of Russia designatedNovaya-Gazeta Europe as anundesirable organisation.[49]
As of 2023, the newspaper had a daily print circulation of 108,000, and online visits of 613,000.[2][3]
Muratov'sNovaya Gazeta first opened an office in Latvia, next in Germany, and, in 2024, in Paris.[50]
In 2024, the documentary,Of Caravan and the Dogs, was released.[51] The film uses videos from several months before the Russian invasion of Ukraine untilNovaya Gazeta, Radio Echo of Moscow, and Rain TV closed down and its staff fled to other countries for their safety.
In a video posted byNovaya Gazeta on YouTube in January 2017, editor-in-chiefDmitry Muratov revealed that the newspaper's employees jointly owned 76% of its shares, while the remaining 24% were owned byAlexander Lebedev (14%) andMikhail Gorbachev (10%).[52]
Since 2009, the newspaper's editor-in-chief has been elected every second year by the editorial staff in a secret ballot. A few days before the November 2017 election, Muratov announced that he would not stand, as he felt that there was need for a change after his 22 years in the position, but that he would continue to work for the newspaper. He was replaced by Sergey Kozheurov, the general director of the newspaper and its first editor-in-chief.[53] However, Muratov was re-elected again in November 2019.[54]
Igor Domnikov was well known inNovaya Gazeta for his witty essays and acerbic tone. He was attacked near the doorway of his Moscow apartment, on 12 May 2000. Hit with a hard object, presumably a hammer, by an unknown assailant, he was lying unconscious in a pool of his own blood when he was found by a neighbor. Domnikov was delivered to a hospital with skull and brain injuries, and underwent surgery, but remained in a coma. He died from his injuries on 16 July 2000. Five gang members were arrested in August 2007 on suspicion of murder, and were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 18 years to life for his murder as well as other crimes.[55] On 11 March 2015, former Deputy Governor ofLipetsk Oblast Sergei Dorovskoi was charged by theInvestigative Committee of Russia with inciting the murder, but Dorovskoi was never punished because of thestatute of limitations.[56][57] Investigations have found that Domnikov had written a series of reports about life in the Lipetsk region in 1999–2000, in which he criticized the local government for corruption, which was the motive for Dorovskoi to incite others to kill the journalist.[58]
Viktor Popkov, a contributor for the newspaper, was shot to death inChechnya in 2001.[59]
Yury Shchekochikhin, a journalist and a deputy in theState Duma, had also worked for the newspaper as aninvestigative journalist and had been a deputy Editor-in-Chief until he died from a mysterious and severe allergy on 3 July 2003. Some of his contributions published inNovaya Gazeta were related to the investigation of theThree Whales Corruption Scandal.[60]
JournalistAnna Politkovskaya, who was highly critical of Putin and of Russia's actions inChechnya, wrote forNovaya Gazeta untilher assassination when she was shot dead in her Moscow apartment on 7 October 2006, Putin's birthday.[61] Politkovskaya wrote in an essay that the editors received: "Visitors every day in our editorial office who have nowhere else to bring their troubles, because theKremlin finds their stories off-message, so that the only place they can be aired is in our newspaper,Novaya Gazeta."[62]Vyacheslav Izmailov, a retired army major who was a military correspondent, was part of the team investigating her death, and in 2007 claimed to know who had ordered her death.[63][64] Fifteen years after her murder,Novaya Gazeta released a short film investigating her death, and documenting failures at every level of the subsequent investigation.[65] In November 2023, President Vladimir Putin pardoned a former law enforcement involved in the murder, for serving in aRussian penal military unit.[61][66]
Journalist and human rights lawyerStanislav Markelov was shot and killed in Moscow on 19 January 2009 while leaving a press conference about his last minute appeal against the early release ofYuri Budanov, a former Russian military officer convicted for kidnapping andaggravated murder of a young Chechen woman.[67]Anastasia Baburova, a freelance journalist forNovaya Gazeta and a member ofAutonomous Action, was with Markelov at the time and was shot in the head and also killed.[68]
Natalya Estemirova, a human rights researcher and lawyer who lived in theChechen Republic, had sometimes met journalist Anna Politkovskaya and lawyerStanislav Markelov, because they all were investigating crimes in Chechnya and defending victims rights. She also wrote reports inNovaya Gazeta. Estemirova was kidnapped from a sidewalk on 22 July 2009 in the Chechnyan capital Grozny, and two hours later was killed and her bullet-riddled body was found in the neighboringIngushetia Republic.[69][70]
In 2018 three journalists ofNovaya Gazeta, Kirill Radchenko, Alexander Rastorguyev, and Orkhan Dzhemal, were killed in an ambush outside the town ofSibut in theCentral African Republic. They were engaged in investigations of the Russian mercenary engagement in the Central African Republic through theWagner Group.[71]
On 7 April 2022, Muratov was attacked by an unknown person and covered with red paint while on a train from Moscow toSamara, supposedly with the attack reflecting the attacker's support of Russian troops.[72][73][74] Muratov said the attacker had shouted "Muratov, here’s one for our boys".[74] He said his eyes were "burning terribly" after the attack, and posted a selfie showing the effects of the attack.[74] The substance was red paint containingacetone.[75] A declassified United States intelligence report concluded the attackers were part of an unnamed Russian intelligence unit.[75]
Svobodnoe Prostranstvo ("Free Space", Russian:Свободное Пространство), which had been a colour supplement toNovaya Gazeta, is included in the Friday issue.[76][77]Novaya Gazeta has also publishedThe New York Times International Weekly on Fridays since 2009. This eight-page supplement features a selection of articles fromThe New York Times translated into Russian.[citation needed]
Novaya Gazeta regularly contains free inserts of its side-projects or other newly launched newspapers. TheUnited Civil Front (by thecorresponding organisation) andYabloko's newspaper were published in the form of inserts in the past. Current inserts include theShofyor ("Driver" or "chauffeur", Russian:Шофёр) side project and thepopular scienceKentavr ("Centaur", Russian:Кентавр).[citation needed]
I try not to think that journalism in Russia is dangerous but six my colleagues were murdered and I known all of them very good
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