Russia fines a ‘foreign agent’ who supposedly took Big Pharma's money to criticize domestic insulin

Russia meted out justice to another devious foreign agent on Wednesday, when a Saratov district court fined Ekaterina Rogatkina 50,000 rubles ($800) for administrative offenses committed as the head of a local organization that helps diabetics. In late May, a court designated Rogatkina’s former employer, the Saratov Regional Social Organization for Diabetics, as a “foreign agent.” The fine is only half the minimum penalty for this crime, but Rogatkina’s lawyer says she nevertheless plans to appeal.

In late May, a court fined the Saratov Regional Social Organization for Diabetics 300,000 rubles ($4,850) for violating Russia’s regulations on “foreign agents.” Last year, a local university student filed a complaint against the group, and prosecutors argued that it received 715,000 rubles ($11,550) from foreign pharmaceutical companies to stage conferences that criticized Russia’s domestic production of insulin. The authorities determined that this constituted “political activity.”

• Russia’s law on foreign agents applies to any organization that accepts money from abroad and engages in so-called political activity. The Justice Ministry currently designates 76 foreign agents, including several human rights groups like Memorial, Golos, Agora, and others.
• Beginning in 2017, the Russian government gained the right to recognize mass media outlets as foreign agents.