Criminal investigators search Moscow home of Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief

Police investigators in Moscow conducted a search of Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov’s home on Thursday, after which they took him to Russia’s Investigative Committee for questioning.

Novaya Gazeta reported losing contact with Sokolov shortly after midday on Thursday when his phone was switched off. The newspaper, which continues to publish online in Russia despite strict censorship and official harassment, said that the search had “already been completed and the editor-in-chief is being taken to the Investigative Committee”.

According to Russian news outlet Baza, the search was conducted as part of a criminal case being prepared against Novaya Gazeta journalist Oleg Roldugin, who was arrested in April on charges of “unlawful access to computerised information”, though no further details of the charges against Roldugin have been made public.

A highly experienced journalist, Sokolov was named Novaya Gazeta’s editor-in-chief in 2023 after his predecessor Dmitry Muratov decided to step down from his post to launch a legal appeal against being named a “foreign agent” by the Russian authorities. 

While much of Novaya Gazeta’s staff left Russia in March 2022 to establish Novaya Gazeta Europe in Latvia, Sokolov continued to work for Novaya Gazeta in Russia. Despite winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, Novaya Gazeta has been stripped of its media licence, had its printing presses seized, its website blocked, and its staff branded “foreign agents” by the Russian authorities.