Kirill Martynov has a Ph.D. in Philosophy. In 2007-2020 he was an associate professor at the Higher School of Economics (Moscow). In 2020 he co-found the Free University, an independent association of academics fired from Russian universities for political reasons. Since 2014 he has been Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Novaya Gazeta. In 2022 he became a co-founder and editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta Europe.