Novaya Gazeta closure described by former reporter amid mounting pressure
Original report:
In a Guardian opinion article published on 7 November 2026, journalist Elena Kostyuchenko described Novaya Gazeta’s closure after a newsroom eviction and threatened loss of donation processing. Her account portrays the shutdown as the culmination of pressure on the independent Russian newspaper.
Novaya Gazeta was being shut down after losing access to its newsroom and facing a cutoff in reader donations, former reporter Elena Kostyuchenko wrote in the Guardian on 7 November 2026. She said the eviction and banks’ planned halt to donation processing became known on 29 October. Donations were its only legal income, according to her account.
Kostyuchenko also reported insiders’ fears of an extremist designation that could expose employees to imprisonment; she did not say such a designation had occurred. The newspaper had suspended publication in March 2022 and subsequently lost its licence. Her account described an April 2026 newsroom search and equipment seizure, followed by a September foreign-agent designation covering the paper and 106 contributors.
Kostyuchenko’s account presents Novaya Gazeta as both an investigative institution and a training ground, with former staff working across independent Russian media. Its reporting covered wars, corruption, torture and environmental issues. She said six people associated with the newspaper had been killed during its 33 years, underscoring the dangers surrounding its work.
Source
the Guardian — 7 November 2026
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