Russian court upholds shutting top independent newspaper

MOSCOW (AP) — A court in Moscow has upheld an earlier verdict to revoke the license of a top independent newspaper that has been critical of the Kremlin for years, part of the authorities’ relentless crackdown on dissent. Tuesday’s ruling by the Moscow City Court against Novaya Gazeta, which was Russia’s top independent newspaper, comes as Russia’s grinding military campaign in Ukraine approaches its one-year mark. The court rejected Novaya Gazeta’s appeal against September’s ruling by a district court in Moscow that approved a petition by Russia’s media regulator to revoke Novaya Gazeta’s license. Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Prize-winning editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said the ruling “serves a bunch of people who want to leave the nation facing only propaganda.”