The Russian Justice Ministry designated an informal movement as a ‘foreign agent’ — how is that possible?

1. What happened?

Russia has designated the Movement for Defence of Voters’ Rights “Golos” as a “foreign agent.” The Justice Ministry added the group to its new blacklist of “public associations operating without acquiring the rights of a legal entity.” In other words, Golos is now the first informal movement to be labeled a “foreign agent” in Russia.

Golos was created to organize public observation of elections back in 2000. The movement trains observers and adheres to strict principles of political neutrality.

2. Why did the Justice Ministry need another ‘foreign agent’ blacklist?

The Golos movement couldn’t be added to the Justice Ministry’s other “foreign agent” lists — such as the registry of “nonprofit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent” — because it doesn’t have a corresponding legal entity.

When it was first established back in 2000, Golos was formally registered as an association of nonprofit organizations. But in 2013, a Moscow magistrate’s court designated it as a “foreign agent” and it was subsequently liquidated as a legal entity. After that, active members of the group decided to create a spin-off movement without creating a legal entity. Some publications assume that this could have been done just to circumvent the law on “foreign-agent NGOs.”

3. Can you create a movement without registering a legal entity?

Yes, you can. Federal law allows for the creation of public associations (including movements) “without state registration and the acquisition of the rights of a legal entity.”

Moreover, sometimes the state itself will recognize a particular structure as a “public movement without a legal entity,” regardless of the opinion of its members. For example, this is what happened to Alexey Navalny’s political network (“Shtaby Navalnogo,” which translates as Navalny’s Campaign Offices), which was eventually blacklisted as an “extremist” movement.

4. Is it even legal to designate informal organizations as ‘foreign agents’?

Yes, but this option appeared just recently. On December 30, 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on “establishing additional measures to counter threats to national security.” Among other things, it included the possibility of designating “public associations operating without acquiring the rights of a legal entity” as “foreign agents.” The grounds for this designation are the same as for “foreign-agent NGOs” — involvement in political activities and funding from foreign sources.

5. Will ‘Golos’ be able to continue working in Russia?

Formally it can, but it’s difficult to say how effectively. Golos has already announced its intention to continue operating. By law, an unregistered public association designated as a “foreign agent” is required to file reports on foreign funding four times a year and to add a “foreign agent” label to all of its materials, as well as to materials published by its leaders and ordinary members, if they are related to their “political activities.”

However, the bigger problem is that since April 2021, “unregistered public associations performing the functions of a foreign agent” are prohibited from carrying out the following activities:

• Contributing to or hindering the nomination of candidates and lists of candidates;
• Electing registered candidates;
• Putting forward an initiative to hold a referendum;
• Holding a referendum;
• Pursuing a particular result in elections and referenda;
• As well as other forms of participation in election and referendum campaigns.

This last point could be interpreted as prohibiting Golos from conducting election monitoring.

Explainer by Denis Dmitriev

Translation by Eilish Hart