3/25/21
On the way to work at Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta last Monday morning, journalists noticed a strong chemical stench on the street outside their central Moscow office. By the time they sat down at their desks they had spread a clear, noxious substance throughout the building on the soles of their shoes. Only months after opposition leader Alexei Navalny was near-fatally poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent, the apparent chemical attack struck fear into many of the paper’s staff. Days later, an elite Chechen regiment released a video interpreted as claiming the attack and demanding Russian President Vladimir Putin punish Novaya Gazeta for reporting on extrajudicial killings in the autonomous region. “We will continue with our investigations,” the paper’s long-serving editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov told The Moscow Times. “That is our answer to these threats.” For Novaya Gazeta — for decades Russia’s leading investigative newspaper and known for breaking stories on the downing of flight MH17 and alleged gay purges in Chechnya — the attack came as a reminder of the risk its independence carries at a time when the Kremlin’s tolerance for Russia’s few remaining independent media outlets appears to be waning.
the work of reporter Anna Politkovskaya, who made her name documenting human rights abuses by the Russian army in Chechnya, cemented the paper’s reputation as Russia’s leading investigative outlet. Her 2006 murder by an unknown assassin in her apartment building’s elevator left an indelible mark on Novaya Gazeta, while also winning the newspaper international fame. One of at least four of the paper’s reporters murdered since its founding, Politkovskaya’s office has been left untouched since her death. Outside Novaya Gazeta’s Moscow headquarters, a memorial bust stands in her memory. Today, however, there is an increasing sense among both observers and Novaya Gazeta staff that the unique set of circumstances under which the newspaper has been able to survive and thrive are coming to an end. Specifically, the Russian government’s turn toward anti-western positions abroad and heightened authoritarianism at home leaves Novaya Gazeta’s traditional position as a bastion of free media more vulnerable than ever. “The Kremlin isn’t really interested in what the outside world thinks anymore,” said political commentator Parkhomenko. "We intend to keep on working in Russia, because it's our country. Forcing us out will only make us more dangerous,” said Martynov. “It’s very hard to imagine that we’d all just retire, or go and work for RT.”