Russia’s Justice Ministry has updated for the first time since mid-February the unified register of foreign agents, including two organizations and five individuals. Information about it appeared on the department’s website.
The list included:
Economist, former rector of NES Sergey Guriev*; Vladivostok journalist Daniil Gubarev*; former director of Yandex.News and creator of news aggregator The True Story Lev Gershenzon*; politician, former State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov*; blogger and artist Veranika Wodwood* (nixelpixel); World Wildlife Fund (WWF)*; Fund “Free Buryatia”*.
There are now over 550 individuals and organizations on the registry. The Ministry of Justice traditionally replenishes the list of foreign agents on Fridays. The agency last updated the list on February 17. Then historian and publicist Andrey Zubov*, journalist Andrey Loshak* and the Vozrozhdenie* school of free public thought* were included in it.
According to the ministry, Loshak* and Zubov* participated in the creation and distribution of material by foreign agents. At the same time, according to the department, the journalist “spread negative information” about the decisions taken by government agencies, including the activities of the Ministry of Defense, spoke out against the military operation in Ukraine and ” actively interacted with foreign structures”. , and the historian “spread false information” about the activities of state authorities.
The Vozrozhdeniye school was entered into the register of foreign agents for calling for a fight against the current Russian government and a change in the constitutional order. The Department of Justice also noted that “most of the teachers at the school are on the foreign agent register and live in foreign countries.”
Foreign Agents Act
In July 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the law “On control of the activities of persons under foreign influence”. It came into effect on December 1. Now, to assign the status of “foreign agent”, the authorities no longer need to claim that a person has foreign funding, it is enough to prove that he is under “foreign influence”. This definition refers to “the provision by a foreign source to a person of support or influence over a person, including by coercion, persuasion or other means”.
In addition to the register of foreign agents, a register of persons affiliated with them has also appeared. It includes founders, managers or employees of organizations-foreign agents and those who have engaged in political activities and received money from persons and organizations already registered in the register of foreign agents or participated in their activities .
At the end of November 2022, the State Duma adopted a bill amending 40 federal laws to regulate the activities of foreign agents. The adopted norms, in particular, prohibit citizens with such a status from carrying out educational and educational activities with minors, they are also prohibited from being allowed to teach in state and municipal educational institutions.
In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) recognized Russian law on foreign agents violating human rights. He granted 10,000 euros in compensation to each of the 73 candidate non-commissioned officers. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would not comply with the ECHR ruling.
- recognized in Russia as a foreign agent
