Nóvaya Gazeta, the last independent media in Russia, stops publishing after the Kremlin warns.

The newspaper Nóvaya Gazeta, which is critical of Vladimir Putin, has announced that it will stop publishing after several warnings from the Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor.

The newspaper, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov, announced that it would close after receiving a second warning, as a third could mean its closure.

“We received two warnings from Roskomnadzor. “It’s better to shut it down, because if we get a third warning, they can revoke our license and it will mean our disappearance,” Nadezhda Prusenkova, a spokeswoman for the Efe newspaper, told Efe.

The information about this is confirmed by a short statement on his website. “We received another warning from Roskomnadzor. After that, until the end of the “special operation on the territory of Ukraine”, we will stop publishing the newspaper, website, networks and print. “Respectfully, the editors of Nóvaya Gazeta,” they wrote, using the euphemism for the Kremlin to urge all media outlets to cover the war.

Dmitry Muratov He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 with journalist Maria Resa. The jury recognized his “brave fight” for “the protection of human rights and freedom of expression.”

The Russian journalist dedicated the award to workers who died in 1993 after the founding of the Novaya Gazeta, including Anna Politkovskaya. Since he began coverage, the newspaper’s six journalists who criticized the Putin government have been killed.

In his speech, he condemned that journalism in Russia goes through the “dark valley” and condemned that a hundred journalists, media outlets and activists were labeled “foreign agents” and for this reason some had to leave the country.

Muratov also warned that torture was a “common practice” in Russia and that criminal cases were often based on “false accusations and political motives.”

A few days ago, the director of the magazine said that the money received by Nobel will be donated to the Refugee Fund of Ukraine. “Novaya Gazeta and I have decided to award the 2021 Nobel Prize to the Refugee Fund of Ukraine. “There are already more than 10 million refugees,” said the journalist.

“We want to share this award with the refugees, the wounded and the children in need of treatment,” he said, calling for an end to the fighting, the opening of humanitarian corridors and the exchange of prisoners.

In early February, Elena Milashina, an investigative journalist with the Nóvaya Gazeta who condemned the violence in Chechnya, was forced to flee Russia after receiving threats from Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.

Russian law against “fake news”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has passed a law punishing “false information” about Russia’s actions abroad and up to 15 years in prison for the Russian army, another measure of control over information about the invasion of Ukraine.

The law punishes “intentional dissemination of false information under the guise of credible information” “activities of Russian state agencies outside Russia.”

The sentence is increased to 15 years in prison if the “false information” has “serious consequences”.

Prior to the new regulation, Russia had ranked Russia 150th out of 180 countries in the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index.

As a result of this law, many international media outlets left the country for fear of government repression. Media outlets from around the world, such as RTVE, BBC, CNN, CBS, and Bloomberg, temporarily stopped reporting on Russia, while continuing coverage of the conflict from Ukraine and elsewhere.

In addition, many Russian independent media outlets were censored, including Snob, Sobesednik, Agentstvo, Echo of Moscow, Echo of the Caucasus, Dozhd Channel, and Activatica. The prosecutor’s office and Roskomnadzor asked them to remove the content described as “invasion”, “war” or “aggression” that is taking place in Ukraine.

Several of these media outlets decided to delete content deemed illegal, including Nóvaya Gazeta. But the last warning was the final tip, so those in charge preferred to close it in order to continue to obey censorship.