Novaya Gazeta has been Russia’s largest independent media outlet for over 30 years, and was one of the last surviving publications inside the country to hold the Kremlin to account. Six Novaya Gazeta employees have been murdered since 2000 for doing their jobs. Dmitry Muratov, the newspaper’s longtime editor-in-chief, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work safeguarding freedom of expression in 2021.

Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, after which Novaya Gazeta continued to report objectively and without bias on the war despite the introduction of military censorship. However, for the safety of its staff it was forced to suspend its activities on 28 March.

On 7 April the former employees of Novaya Gazeta launched Novaya Gazeta Europe, a new independent media outlet free from Russian censorship based in the Latvian capital Riga. Despite having no investors, no legal status, no bank account and negligible funds, the new outlet was able to launch its website on 20 April and has since then been reporting freely about Russia and the war in Ukraine once again.

Just nine days later, however, the website was blocked by Russian censors for “spreading known falsehoods about the Russian army.” Despite that, Novaya Gazeta Europe has continued to publish its vital reporting, analysis, opinion and investigations in both Russian and English to counter the Russian propaganda flooding the internet, and can still be accessed in Russia using a VPN.

Two months after the website was blocked in Russia, Friends of Novaya Gazeta Europe was established in Switzerland to raise money to support the work of the new outlet. But circumstances have only become more challenging since then as the Kremlin continues to do everything it can to impede our work.

Novaya Gazeta Europe’s editor-in-chief Kirill Martynov and Novaya Gazeta’s veteran editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov have both being declared “foreign agents” by the Russian government, while in September 2023 Novaya Gazeta Europe was deemed an “undesirable organisation” — banning it and making it a criminal offence for Russians to cooperate with it in any way.

You can help us win this David and Goliath fight. By becoming a friend, you’ll enjoy various privileges such as regular updates on our growing outlet, the opportunity to meet and talk with our editors and journalists, as well as the chance to participate in various events alongside other friends. You can find out more about the association here.

We are Novaya Gazeta Europe — let’s be friends!

Your support would mean the world to us.