The Ministry accused the newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" of disseminating false information regarding the decisions and policies of Russian state bodies, as well as the electoral system of the Federation. Furthermore, the newspaper allegedly opposed the special military operation in Ukraine, participated in distributing messages and materials of foreign agents among the general public, and cooperated with them.
The same list also included scientist and TV presenter Sergey Leibgrad, editor Felix Sandoval, outstanding specialist in computational biology and mathematician Tatyana Tatarinova, as well as the journal "Historical Expertise".
This decision followed the fact that "Novaya Gazeta," whose chief editor Dmitry Muratov received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 along with Filipino journalist Maria Resa for their contribution to freedom of expression, suspended its activities in March 2022 under pressure from Russian officials demanding registration on the list of foreign agents.
Later, part of the journalistic team launched a project in Europe. In 2023, Russian authorities declared the activities of "Novaya Gazeta Europe" undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation. In the same year, Muratov was also added to the list of foreign agents after the publication's management handed over control to Sergey Sokolov.