Despite Putin's attempts to suppress the press, it still has a voice: The Times. The Russian president has closed the last free newspaper in the country challenging his rule - but this is not the end. For many years, it was the only and increasingly attacked voice of the opposition in Russia - against corruption, oppression and especially against the war in Ukraine and its devastating consequences for the economy, society and the families of the victims. But on Friday, Novaya Gazeta, once funded and supported by former President Mikhail Gorbachev, announced it could no longer fight increasingly brutal political and physical persecution. "We found ourselves in the zone of defeat," said editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov, who announced the closing of the newspaper after 30 years of work. Assassination by official libel, publication ban, persecution by FSB officers, the declaration of the newspaper as a "foreign agent" and evacuation from its office in Moscow were designed to silence the only voice expressing the silent opposition of millions against the war. The murder was also verbal. Six reporters or writers for the paper were killed, including Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot for reporting on the Chechen conflict. Shortly after the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Dmitry Muratov, the founder of the newspaper, an attacker threw chemicals in his face. Russia experienced only a brief period of press freedom after the fall of communism. These free voices are now mostly in exile, but they will still be heard. The murder of Novaya Gazeta shows how powerful even a single voice can be.