🔸 The independent newspaper “Novaya Gazeta” in Russia, known for investigative reports and exposés about corruption and violations of human rights, announced that it will end its activities following years of government pressure.

🔸 The editors of the paper, on Friday, 8 Aban, a day after government officials began the process of evacuating the newspaper’s editorial office in Moscow, wrote in a Telegram message: “They killed us.”

🔸 Novaya Gazeta was founded in the early 1990s, and Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, was among its financial backers.

🔸 During its run, the newspaper paid a heavy price for publishing investigative reports. Anna Politkovskaya, one of its best-known journalists, who wrote about the war in Chechnya and the repression there, was murdered in Moscow in 2006.

🔸 At least five other journalists and associates of this publication were also killed, or died under suspicious circumstances.

🔸 Dmitry Muratov, the long-time editor of Novaya Gazeta, in 2021, together with others, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to defend freedom of expression and independent journalism.