Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta announced that it stops publishing until the end of the war between Russia and Ukraine. The newspaper says it has received a new warnings issued by Russian authorities. The newspaper´s publisher is Dmitry Muratov who together with Maria Ressa, publisher of Philippine website Rappler, were awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for their fight for press freedom.

Novaya Gazeta published the following statement (in Russian) on its website:

”We received another warning from Roskomnadzor (Russian media watchdog).

After that, we suspend the publication of the newspaper on the website, in the networks and on paper – until the end of the “special operation on the territory of Ukraine”.

Sincerely, the editorial board of Novaya Gazeta.”

State-owned news agency TASS reported that “Russia’s mass media watchdog issued a second written warning to the newspaper after it had mentioned in one of its online publications the name of an organization listed in Russia as a foreign agent NGO without highlighting this fact.”

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To state that an organization is a foreign agent is a way for Russian authorities to harass unwanted and independent news media. Being on the list of foreign agents makes cooperation with other companies difficult or impossible. The number of companies on the list of foreign agents has increased dramatically over the last year or so.

TASS on March 28 reported that now also the German public service broadcaster is on the list of foreign agents.

“Russia’s Justice Ministry has put Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcasting company on the list of foreign agents” TASS reported.

“On March 28, 2022, pursuant to the requirements of the current legislation of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation included Deutsche Welle in its registry of foreign mass media outlets performing the functions of a foreign agent,” the statement said, according to TASS´ report.

Muratov¨s newspaper earlier removed all of its war coverage due to the threat of criminal prosecution its journalists and readers could face.

“Military censorship in Russia has quickly moved into a new phase: from the threat of blocking and closing publications (almost fully implemented) it has moved to the threat of criminal prosecution of both journalists and citizens who spread information about military hostilities that is different from the press releases of the Ministry of Defense. There is no doubt that this threat will be realised”, the newspaper said in its earlier statement.

The newspaper said it could not risk the freedom of its staff but also could not ignore its readers’ desire for it to continue working, even under military censorship. It would therefore remove materials “on this topic” from its website and social networks.

“We continue to report on the consequences that Russia is facing: the developing economic crisis, the rapid decline in living standards, problems with access to foreign medicines and technologies, and the persecution of dissidents, including for anti-war statements”, the newspaper said in its earlier statement during the war.

However, after a second threat, Novaya Gazeta has now announced that it totally suspends publishing until the end of the war.