MOSCOW—Nearly a dozen journalists at one of Russia’s most respected newspapers resigned over the firing of two colleagues, highlighting shrinking press freedoms and the stifling of discussion about the country’s political future.

The mass resignation at Kommersant, a broadsheet owned by a billionaire with connections to the Kremlin, focused on an article last month that reported one of Russia’s most powerful politicians was to leave her post.

The piece caused an uproar in Kremlin circles, and the two authors of the article said Monday the newspaper's management had forced them out. Eleven other correspondents afterward quit in protest.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has this year taken steps to further control the country’s media, signing into law measures criminalizing what the legislation calls fake news and the disrespecting of the government and its officials.

The controversy this week, analysts said, didn’t focus on the veracity of the article, but on its attempt to provide a glimpse into the Kremlin’s thinking and more specifically into the fate of the country’s most powerful politicians.