“After receiving a second warning from Roskomnadzor, we are suspending the publication of the newspaper on our site, on social networks and in print until the end of the special operation on the territory of Ukraine” , announced at midday, on its website, the independent Moscow newspaper Novaïa Gazeta.
The reason given by the federal media monitoring agency for this warning is the omission of the mention “foreign agent” when referring to an NGO registered in this register, without the authority specifying in which article, develops the title. Roskomnadzor’s first warning was sent to the newspaper on March 22. It already concerned the absence of identification of an NGO as a “foreign agent” in an article. The authority had demanded the immediate correction of the text. Two warnings of this nature per year put the publication under the threat of withdrawal of the license making it a medium.
The newspaper’s editor, Dmitry Muratov, co-winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, commented on this situation in a letter to the “private readers-sponsors” of the title, including the online daily Gazeta.ru became aware of:
“We lasted thirty-four days under the conditions of the ‘special operation’, under the conditions of war censorship. We had decided [au début de la guerre]on the advice of 96% of you – whom we had consulted – to continue our publications. Novaia could not let go of its readers.
And we continued our work. On the battlefields, in the border areas. We have gone through the most tragic days of our history together. It could not remain without traces.
We have received a second warning from Roskomnadzor, which means that we are forced to suspend the publication of the newspaper, and to stop feeding our site and social networks until the end of the fighting on the territory of Ukraine. We have no other solution. For us, and for you, I know, it is a terrible and very heavy decision. But we have to save ourselves for each other. Your support is more crucial than ever. Without you, we will not survive. Thank you and see you soon !”