Masked men descended on the headquarters of the independent Russian publication Novaya Gazeta in Moscow
Masked security forces raided the headquarters of the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta in Moscow on Thursday, the newspaper said on social media, according to AFP.
“Around noon” (09:00 GMT), agents “wearing hoods entered the newsroom premises”, Novaia Gazeta said on online networks.
“We don't know the reason. They don't allow the editor's lawyers access to the premises where some of the employees are also located,” the publication stated.
An AFP journalist on the scene found two vehicles belonging to the Russian Investigative Committee, the body in charge of most investigations in the country, parked in the courtyard in front of the offices.
The searches are being carried out as part of a criminal case regarding the “illegal use of personal data” in writing “negative” articles about Russians, state agencies TASS and RIA Novosti wrote.
Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's few independent publications, has often come under scrutiny from the authorities for its journalistic investigations into human rights abuses.
This paper's commitment, particularly in covering human rights violations in Chechnya, cost the lives of several of its contributors. Among them is Anna Politkovskaia, shot dead in October 2006 in the lobby of her Moscow building.
Dmitri Muratov, then editor-in-chief of the publication, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 in recognition of his “efforts in defense of freedom of expression” while running the paper.
The newspaper, which previously appeared several times a week, ceased publication after military censorship was instituted at the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Novaya Gazeta, however, continues to exist online.
In order to do their work and not be arrested, several of the editors of the publication went to the West after the invasion, where they established Novaia Gazeta Europa.
