MOSCOW -- Nobel Peace Prize winner Dmitry Muratov has announced the planned launch of a new media project following the suspension of the Novaya gazeta newspaper, where he was editor in chief.
Muratov said in a statement on June 16 that the two first letters of his suspended newspaper, NO, will be the name of the new project, which he sees as an appendix to Novaya gazeta. "No" can be translated from Russian as "but."
"We will also launch a YouTube channel under that name," Muratov's statement said. He gave no further details.
In late March, Novaya gazeta suspended its operations after receiving warnings regarding its coverage of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine from Roskomnadzor, the state communications regulator, which would have allowed Roskomnadzor to pursue closing it down through court action.
Russia strictly limits how media can describe events in Ukraine, which it labels a "special military operation."
Several other Russian media outlets have already opted for suspending operations rather than face heavy restrictions on what they can report, and the Kremlin has also blocked multiple foreign news outlets.
Last month, exiled journalists from Novaya gazeta launched a new publication in Latvia. Novaya gazeta.Europe appeared on newsstands in Riga and on the Internet on May 6. It is published in cooperation with a Latvian publishing house by editors of the paper who fled abroad.
The issue appeared in both Russian and Latvian and reported extensively on Russia's war in Ukraine.
In April, Muratov said he was attacked while riding in a train in Russia by an assailant who threw a mixture of red oil paint and acetone on him. Doctors later diagnosed Muratov with eye burns.
Although Novaya gazeta identified the attacker as an activist linked to the Union of Russian Paratroopers, Nikolai Trifonov, he has not been arrested.
Earlier in June, Muratov put his Nobel medal up for auction to raise funds to help some of the millions of Ukrainians who have fled the country since Russia invaded on February 24.
Muratov shared the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Ressa, who co-founded Rappler, a news website critical of the Philippine government.