On Monday, November 9, 2026, employees of Novaya Gazeta left their editorial office in Potapovsky Lane in central Moscow. On this day, the final editorial meeting took place, after which journalists packed their personal belongings and vacated the premises where the publication had operated since 1993. Dozens of people came to support the team — journalists from Russian and foreign media outlets, including CNN and Reuters correspondents. Those gathered at the entrance greeted the departing team with applause, and people left flowers by the memorial plaque for Anna Politkovskaya and at the entrance to the office.

Farewell to the memorial of murdered journalists

The former editor-in-chief of the publication, Dmitry Muratov, attended the final meeting. After the meeting, portraits of Novaya Gazeta employees who died during the publication's existence were removed from the walls: journalists Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, and Natalia Estemirova, as well as freelance contributor Anastasia Baburova and lawyer Stanislav Markelov, who collaborated with the newspaper. Later, a plaque reading "Novaya Gazeta Lived Here" was placed over the publication's sign — an informal memorial that became the final act of farewell to the address, which for three decades was considered one of the symbols of independent journalism in Russia.

"An idea cannot be killed": Sergei Sokolov's farewell speech

Novaya Gazeta Editor-in-Chief Sergei Sokolov delivered a farewell speech to the accompaniment of DDT's song "Eto Vse" (This Is All). He stated that the closure of the physical newsroom does not mean the end of the project: "We will definitely come up with something. Because Novaya Gazeta is not pages, not a website. It is an idea. An idea, the purpose of life for those who work here. And that cannot be killed. And it cannot be closed. We will live." According to him, the publication's Telegram channel was supposed to continue operating until midnight on November 9, and the final video report had already been published on the editorial office's YouTube channel.

Kremlin: "an ordinary rotational process"

The closure of the newspaper was commented on by Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the President of Russia. According to him, the assertion that together with the publication "an era of independent Russian media is departing" is incorrect. "Of course, year after year some media outlets cease to exist, and new media outlets take their place. This is an ordinary rotational process," the Kremlin representative stated. The editorial office itself, on the contrary, at the end of October, announcing the cessation of operations, directly linked the decision to pressure from the Russian authorities and special services.

Context: from the closure announcement to vacating the office

In late October 2026, Novaya Gazeta officially announced the cessation of its operations after 30 years. Founded in 1993, the publication was considered one of the most prominent independent media outlets in Russia for three decades. A few weeks before the final working day, the editorial office experienced a series of searches: on October 15, security forces searched Editor-in-Chief Sergei Sokolov, after which he was taken to the Investigative Committee. Earlier, in April 2026, the Moscow editorial office was also searched, resulting in the detention of a staff journalist. These events, according to colleagues and observers, became part of the pressure the editorial office spoke about in its farewell appeal.

What's next

The fate of the physical space in Potapovsky Lane is currently undetermined. The plaque "Novaya Gazeta Lived Here" remains on the facade of the building. The editorial office stated that the project will continue to exist in a digital format, although specific details about new working formats were not disclosed at the time of publication. For the Russian media environment, the closure of Novaya Gazeta became an event that, according to journalist colleagues present at the farewell, marks the end of an entire era.