Russian writer, philanthropist, and Freemason whose activities were intended to raise the educational and cultural level of the Russian people and included the production of social satires as well as the founding of schools and libraries. Influenced by Freemasonry, Novikov converted his journals and his ambitious publishing enterprise into vehicles of freethinking and even criticized Empress Catherine II the Great. She suspended publication of his journals and had him arrested in 1792. He was released by Emperor Paul in 1796 but was forbidden to resume his journalistic activities.