The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Teresa Ribeiro, today condemned the shutdown of Novaya Gazeta newspaper and reiterated her call on the Russian authorities to fully respect OSCE media freedom commitments.
On 5 September, the Basmanny district court in Moscow stripped Novaya Gazeta of its print media registration. The case stems from the media regulator Roskomnadzor’s accusation of the publication about failing to provide its editorial statute within a required timeframe.
Today, the same court invalidated the registration of Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta magazine, which was launched by the editorial office of Novaya Gazeta in July 2022. The decision also refers to the Roskomnadzor’s claim that the media outlet had not been published for more than a year.
On 15 September, the Russian Supreme Court is expected to pass a verdict on whether to terminate the registration of Novaya Gazeta’s website following another lawsuit by Roskomnadzor.
“The chain of recent developments to suppress Novaya Gazeta, one of the most prominent media outlets in the Russian Federation, again clearly adds to the already over-restrictive nature of media environment in the country,” Ribeiro said. “I reiterate my call on the Russian authorities to stop these continued, highly disproportionate, measures against media and journalists and abide by their OSCE principles and commitments on freedom of expression and media freedom.”
The Representative further expressed serious concern about the recent detention of Novaya Gazeta’s journalist Andrei Zayakhin on alleged charges of financing extremist activities, and application of restrictive measures that effectively prevent him from exercising any kind of journalistic activities.
Ribeiro also noted that the authorities continue to hamper journalists’ ability to perform their professional duties through the vicious practice of labelling them as “foreign agents”, which she has spoken out against on many instances in the past. In the latest move, on 3 September, several media workers, including Kirill Martynov from Novaya Gazeta – Europa, journalist and war photographer Sergey Loyko, journalist and documentary writer Ekaterina Gordeyeva, Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon and others, were added to the respective register.
