Image: from Maqsood Asi X @MaqsoodAsi
By Open Chronicle Staff with Agencies
Thursday, April 9, 2026
MOSCOW — Masked security officials wearing balaclavas stormed the central Moscow offices of Novaya Gazeta on Thursday, marking a sharp escalation in the Kremlin’s multi-year crackdown on independent journalism. The raid, which began shortly after noon, left staff members cut off from legal counsel as police blocked the building’s entrance for over five hours.
Kaloy Akhilgov, a lawyer for the newspaper, reported being turned away at the door by masked officers who told him he was “too controversial” to enter. “Not a joke,” Akhilgov wrote on his Telegram channel, noting that the search was being conducted by the Moscow branch of the Investigative Committee.
📹 | RIA Novosti reported that Novaya Gazeta journalist Oleg Roldugin had been detained for mishandling personal data and was being interrogated. His stories in Novaya Gazeta have included investigations into the inner circle of Chechnya Governor Ramzan Kadyrov and Russia’s… pic.twitter.com/F4B1L3RDIZ
— Novaya Gazeta Europe (@novayagazeta_en) April 9, 2026
Detention of Oleg Roldugin
The raid appears centered on a criminal case against prominent investigative journalist Oleg Roldugin. In a coordinated morning operation, police also searched Roldugin’s apartment before taking him to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for questioning.
State-controlled media outlets, including RIA Novosti, reported that the case involves the alleged “unlawful use and disclosure of citizens’ personal data.” Authorities claim to have identified a group that obtained personal information from “illegal online sources” to create content that “painted a negative picture of Russians.”
Roldugin is known for his high-stakes investigative work, including:
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Corruption in the Presidential Administration.
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Property holdings of former Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
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The inner circle of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov.
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A recent expose on the creators of the state-backed messaging app “Max.”
A Climate of Suppression
The raid coincided with another major blow to Russian civil society: the Supreme Court ruled on the same day to designate the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial as an “extremist movement.”
Novaya Gazeta has faced relentless pressure since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Although it officially suspended operations to avoid wartime censorship, it has maintained an online presence. Its license was revoked in September 2022, and its editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, who shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize, was designated a “foreign agent” in 2023.
“As of 17:00, investigative activities at the Novaya Gazeta editorial office are ongoing. Lawyers have still not been granted access. There remains no contact with colleagues,” the newspaper posted on its Telegram channel.
While many of the paper’s staff now operate from Novaya Gazeta Europe in Riga, those remaining in Moscow continue to face the reality of a legal system increasingly used to silence critical voices under the guise of data protection and national security.