In Response to Warnings, Russian Newspaper Novaya Gazeta Suspends Publication
The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced that it would suspend its online and print publications until the war in Ukraine is over.
It follows a warning from Roskomnadzor, the Russian media regulator, to the independent media outlet whose editor is the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov. "We are suspending the publication of the newspaper on our website, social media networks and in print until the end of the 'special operation on Ukraine's territory'," the newspaper wrote on its website, using Russia’s official terminology for its invasion of Ukraine.
The regulator of Russia's state press reported that Novaya Gazeta had been warned a second time for failing to identify a nongovernmental organization considered a "foreign agent" by the authorities in its publications. A court can shut down a media outlet if it gets two warnings in a year, according to Agence France-Presse.
Watchdogs and media observers see it as retaliation for the newspaper's reporting on Ukraine, and Muratov's participation in an interview with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday. Russian watchdog Roskomnadzor warned Russian media not to use the Zelenskyy interview.
Muratov wrote in a message to readers that the decision to end the paper's operations was difficult, but necessary. “There is no other choice,” the note said. “For us, and I know, for you, it's an awful and difficult decision.” Novaya Gazeta has been one of the last bastions of free press in Russia, says the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
Media coverage of the conflict has been severely curtailed by Moscow, with a new law that penalizes reporting "false news" about the military and directives on how to discuss it. Two more independent broadcasters were shut down by the Russian authorities earlier this month, Ekho Moskvy radio and Dozhd TV.
Germany's Deutsche Welle (DW) was labeled a foreign agent by Russia's Justice Ministry on Monday. Peter Limbourg, the DW's director-general, said the move wouldn't stop DW from covering Russia. DW's Moscow offices had already been closed by Russian authorities and its website was blocked, Limbourg said, so the latest action wasn't unexpected. “It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media,” Limbourg said.
Many other news websites and broadcasters, including VOA's Russian service, are blocked in the country. Oxu.az, an Azerbaijani news website, was blocked in Russia on March 24. Oxu.az's editor-in-chief says Russian authorities didn't tell him about the decision to block the site. Due to their coverage of the Ukraine war, several Azerbaijan-based websites have been blocked in Russia since the Russian invasion on February 24.
