Independent Russian investigative newspaper *Novaya Gazeta* has announced its closure due to government crackdowns. The newspaper held its final editorial meeting on Monday and shut down its newsroom, after being designated as a "foreign agent" by Moscow in September, which led banks to halt the processing of donations from its dependent readership. Co-founded in 1993 by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the paper was one of the very few media outlets in Russia that openly criticized Moscow's war in Ukraine and the policies of the Kremlin.