Kremlin-critical newspaper Novaya Gazeta stripped of licence by Russian court

The government has censored the newspaper and its offshoots since the start of the war in Ukraine

Editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov holding up a copy of Novaya Gazeta in New York in June 2022 (AP)

A Russian court has stripped independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta of its licence in a move that has effectively banned it from operating inside the country.

Media watchdog Roskomnadzor filed a case accusing the newspaper, which has often been critical of the Kremlin, of not providing documents to Moscow’s justice ministry regarding its 2006 change of ownership.

Novaya Gazeta’s lawyers insisted that the changes did not require presenting the newspaper’s charter to the authorities, but a court in the Basmanny district of Moscow announced on Monday that it had revoked Novaya Gazeta’s licence.

The newspaper – which was established almost 30 years ago – has criticised and investigated Russia’s war in Ukraine. Its editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, and the paper itself was established with the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winnings of the late former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mr Muratov, who has remained in Russia, led Mr Gorbachev’s funeral procession on Saturday.

In response to the court ruling, Mr Muratov tweeted: “[It’s] a purely political decision, it has no legal grounds to it.” He added that the outlet would appeal against the ruling.

The United Nations Human Rights Office called the judgment “yet another blow to the independence of Russian media”.

Novaya Gazeta, a stalwart of the Russian media scene since it was founded in 1993, was able to carve out a niche as Russia’s leading investigative outlet, even as press freedoms were gradually rolled back. But in March it suspended operations in Russia after being cautioned for violating new laws imposing strict censorship on coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.

In April, Novaya Gazeta Europa – with Kirill Martynov as editor-in-chief – was set up in the Latvian capital, Riga, to circumvent the Russian government’s laws banning coverage of the invasion that deviates from press statements issued by the Kremlin.

After its launch, Mr Martynov said the newspaper would be independent of Novaya Gazeta “both legally and in practice”, and that its newsroom would be staffed with journalists who had left Russia.

In July, journalists at Novaya Gazeta launched the magazine Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta, and its first issue contained an analysis of Vladimir Putin’s ideology. But its website was blocked in Russia just over a week after it launched.

Novaya Gazeta has also been financially supported by Alexander Lebedev, a former owner of The Independent. Mr Lebedev is the father of Evgeny Lebedev, a current shareholder of The Independent and Evening Standard.