The editor-in-chief of the renowned Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta was detained in Moscow on Thursday after being accused of discrediting Russia’s armed forces, the newspaper said.
Sergei Sokolov was detained by officers from Russia’s Center for Combating Extremism (Center E), Novaya Gazeta said.
It said the charges — which are “administrative” and are usually punishable by a fine or a short prison sentence -– are related to an article printed by the newspaper. The date of Sokolov’s hearing is not yet known.
The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, or RSF, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it “protests against this arrest which further testifies to the violence of censorship in Russia.”
Sokolov took the leadership of Novaya Gazeta’s newsroom in September 2023 after the previous longtime editor-in-chief, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov, was named a “foreign agent” by Russian authorities.
In September 2022, a Moscow court revoked the license of Novaya Gazeta, which has been critical of the Kremlin for years, as part of the authorities’ continuing crackdown on dissent.
