Status: 05.09.2022 11:58 a.m
A Moscow court has revoked the license of Russia’s most important independent newspaper. “Novaya Gazeta” had tried to avoid this by suspending its own publication in March.
The Russian authorities have revoked the printing license of the country’s main independent newspaper. This was announced by “Novaya Gazeta” in online networks. A court in Moscow has “invalidated” the newspaper’s printing license.
The court granted an application by the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor. The supervisor accuses the newspaper of not submitting documents on a change of ownership in 2006.
Newspaper suspended publication itself
“Novaya Gazeta” ceased publication in March as part of the campaign against critics of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine. This also applied to the website and all activities in online networks. Originally, this was supposed to apply until the war against Ukraine was over.
The reason given by “Novaya Gazeta” at the time was that the editors had now received the second warning from the media regulator Roskomnadzor because they had neglected to mention the addition “foreign agent” in an article.
Anyone who receives money from abroad as a non-governmental organization or as a medium, for example, has to describe themselves as such on instructions from the Russian authorities. Two such warning letters from the authorities in Russia threatened the withdrawal of the license, it said.
The newspaper’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year for his services to freedom of expression. He had publicly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for the Ukraine war.
He had the Nobel Peace Prize medal auctioned off – for record proceeds of 103.4 million US dollars. The money was intended to support children who lost their homes because of the Ukraine war.