Putin’s war cannot be a triumph
Glimpsing the emptied corridors of Moscow’s Novaya Gazeta offices, Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov paints a bleak picture of state‑directed censorship and repression in Russia. The former editor says the possibility of a “victory” under Vladimir Putin is impossible given the millions of atrocities in Ukraine.
On BBC he added that the Kremlin’s rhetoric about nuclear weapon use has risen to more than five hundred statements in a year. “Those are talks, not realistic plans,” Muratov told reporters. “I study big data, not Putin’s mind. That’s why I remain skeptical about any actual use of nuclear arms.”
Despite the official label of “foreign agent”, Muratov refuses to let his Nobel status shield him. He recounts the shutting down of Novaya Gazeta’s printing presses, the blocking of its website, and the ongoing arrests of journalists including Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergey Karelin, and Artyom Kriger. Those four were jailed on extremism charges for protest‑related reporting.
Muratov’s own family has suffered. In a poignant interview, he showed photographs of inmates such as Ukrainian‑born pediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova, who was sentenced to five and a half years for criticizing the war at work. He also spoke of singer‑pianist Pavel Kushnir, who died in prison after a hunger strike, and of a lawyer who was denied entry during a police search of the Novaya Gazeta building.
The author of Novaya Gazeta’s legacy of fearless reporting states: “The press is free only when people are not afraid to speak their truth.” He recalls that in 2021 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Dmitri Sakharov for defending freedom of expression, yet this award did not spare him from state retaliation.
In closing, Muratov emphasised the power of public support: “Even in a silence that pervades our capital, I hear gratitude whispered from people. That is the most pressing thing.” The story underlines the urgent need for international solidarity with journalists who risk life and freedom to report the truth.
