Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree nationalizing printing presses that the previous foreign owner had transferred to a Nobel Prize- winning opposition editor.
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Norwegian holding Amedia announced it would be exiting the Russian market and handed over control of four of its six printing presses in the country to Dmitry Muratov, the editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta.
Amedia printed Novaya Gazeta, an investigative outlet that regularly exposed government abuse and corruption. For his outlet's work, Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa, who co-founded Rappler, a news website critical of the Philippine government.
The Kremlin shut down Novaya gazeta in March 2022 amid a clampdown on journalists and public dissent in the wake of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
The decree signed by Putin on September 18 nationalizes five of Amedia’s printing presses, including three handed to Muratov. The fate of the sixth printing press is unclear.
Following the closure of Novaya Gazeta, some of the outlet’s journalists left the country and launched a similarly named publication with an editorial office in Riga. Earlier this year, the Moscow City Court deprived the new outlet of its media license.
Meanwhile Muratov announced earlier this month that he was temporarily leaving the post of editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta to mount a court challenge against his inclusion on the Justice Ministry’s list of "foreign agents."
The nationalization of Amedia's printing presses is the latest in a series of foreign asset seizures by the Kremlin. Hundreds of foreign companies announced their departure from Russia following the invasion of Ukraine but many struggled to find buyers for their assets.