Humanly - to agents

Last week, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted a law on the media - foreign agents. Voting took place with a rare unanimity. “A logical mirror answer. There was a common position of all factions, so it was promptly, ”Dmitry Ionin, deputy of the State Duma from Facebook, told on his Facebook page.

Recall that we are talking about the law that has become a response to the actions of the American authorities in relation to the editors of Russia Today in the United States. The branch of the Russian television company was demanded to register as a foreign agent. The Ministry of Justice of Russia was decided to also give the right to recognize the media that are registered abroad or receive money from foreigners, agents.

“After receiving the status of a foreign agent, such a media, if it wants to continue to work in Russia, each quarter should present a report to the Ministry of Justice about its activities, as well as the receipt and spending of money. All publications, including on the Internet, must be accompanied by a note that they were released by the media - a foreign agent, ” Medusa recalls.

Meanwhile, the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights came to the conclusion that the bill approved by the State Duma deputies last week has a number of significant shortcomings. This was written by TASS with reference to his own sources in the HRC. Next week, November 22, the document should be considered in the Federation Council, and human rights activists hope to block it at this level.

“It is quite obvious that any foreign media is financed precisely from foreign sources (advertising, subscription, sale of rights, etc.). Consequently, any foreign media can be recognized as performing the functions of a foreign agent completely arbitrarily, by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, ” TASS quoted the authors of the message in the Council of Council.

In addition, there are other inconsistencies in the law on the media-foreign agents. For example, the fact that the media "can be not only non -profit organizations, but also individuals and commercial organizations, the regulation of their activities goes beyond the limits of regulation of the Law on NGOs."

Also, according to members of the HRC, the State Duma made violations of the procedure when adopting the bill - not only its name, but also the concept were significantly changed by the second reading.

“Taking into account the foregoing, the Council recommends that the federal law rejects ... and return it to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation to eliminate the identified shortcomings,” the project said to be concluded.

Many media writing in Russia and Russia also spoke out against the law. In particular, journalists indicated that the answer is not adequate to what the US authorities from RT - the TV channel will not have to report, although there are still some restrictions.

“The capabilities of RT will really limit the inconspicuous amendment included in the next US budget: literally and literally it will allow cable networks to break off relations with RT without legal consequences (today the presence of a Russian channel in many places is protected by the MUST-CARRI principle, which obliges cables to maintain the broadcasting channels, regardless of the audience or their political views)” The vice-president of the guild of publishers Vasily is ready in the column for The Insider .

Representatives of the Russian authorities noted that the law is nothing more than a tool for response in the case of repressive actions in relation to Russian media. “If you translate from legal to household, then everything is simple: they will not close the Russian media abroad - in Russia the media of these countries will work the same way as they worked and always; If repressive methods of influence are practiced with regard to domestic media and journalists, there are all the necessary tools for the response, ”wrote the official representative of the Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova on her Facebook page.

Recall, the USA is currently operating in the USA. Foreign Agents Registration Act (Foreign Agents Registration Act).

“The law was adopted in the 38th year as part of preparation for the Second World War, frankly. And he was aimed at reflecting Nazi propaganda aggression. In 1968, he was very rewritten and has been acting in a changed form since then. The FARA Law of 1938 quite strongly resembled the law that is in force with you, those amendments to the law on public organizations that are known as the law on foreign agents, ”Ekaterina Shulman recalled on the air of Echo of Moscow .