Nikolay Novikov

Nikolay Novikov (1744–1818) was a Russian writer and publisher, often called the first Russian journalist and a leading voice of the Russian Enlightenment. He edited the Moscow Gazette and brought out satirical journals modelled on The Spectator, attacking serfdom and social abuses and even drawing printed replies from Catherine the Great.

Backed by his masonic network, his press issued roughly a third of all books published in Russia, and he promoted Shakespeare among Russian readers. In 1792 Catherine imprisoned him without trial in the Shlisselburg Fortress; Paul I freed him in 1796, but he never returned to public life.