A few years later, I started working
Despite tenacious efforts and immense sacrifices, the independent Russian publication Novaya Gazeta is facing its final closure, an event that underscores the cost of spreading the truth in the Russian political landscape. This pressure materialized on 29 October, when two drastic measures became clear: the evacuation of the headquarters and the blocking of financial transactions by banking institutions, which cancelled its legal source of income, being the only one it had. The international source indicated the risk that Novaya Gazeta would be declared an extremist organisation, which would have exposed all employees - from journalists and editors to accountants and cleaning staff - to the risk of imprisonment; therefore, closure was presented as a safer option.
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I felt angry at Novaya, because it seemed to take away from me the truth I was sharing with others. I couldn't ignore this information; the words could never be forgotten. Later, I realized that this is the essential purpose of journalism: to bring us back to reality, even when we want to distance ourselves from it.
Dmitry Muratov, one of the founders
A few years later, I started working for the paper. I entered Novaya at 17, with no social connections and no basic technical knowledge, like using a computer, and this path kept me there for 17 years. It is important to note that Novaya did not frequently hire already dedicated journalists, but instead invested in very young people, providing them with high-quality mentoring. The age range in the editorial board was extremely wide: the youngest were 15 years old, and the oldest were approaching 80, thus forming a vast form of intergenerational schooling. Today, many former employees of the publication work in almost all independent media in Russia.
The publication covered crucial topics, turning its own language into tangible events: the Beslan incident, the cleansing of gay men in Chechnya, the MH17 incident of Malaysian Airlines, corruption, the wars in Chechnya, Georgia, Syria and Ukraine, torture, organized crime, environmental issues and terrorism, as well as the diverse lives of people across the vast expanse of our country. In 1993, just months after the founding of Novaya Gazeta, President Boris Yeltsin developed the Supreme Soviet, the nation's legislative body. The army fired on the White House in Moscow, using tanks. Officially, the death toll was 158; unofficial estimates are significantly higher. A special edition of Novaya featured reports from the White House, streets and hospitals, under the slogan: As long as we divide even the dead into our own and enemies, the war will not stop.
Many of Novaya's journalists were subtle threats; many suffered physical blows. One of them threw a chemical in Muratov's face, but his eyes were saved. When Russia's large-scale war against Ukraine began in February 2022, Novaya Gazeta published