Asymmetric answer

The law is adopted, the object of application has been found, but the procedure for application is unclear. So at the moment the situation with the entry into force of the law on the media - "foreign agents" in the Russian Federation. Among the "agents", as you know, is the Russian Radio Liberty Service and its projects "Factograph" and "Siberia. Reali". And today the State Duma will probably make a decision on the ban on the admission of media correspondents - “foreign agents” to the building of the Federal Assembly.

On September 11, information appeared that the Ministry of Justice of the United States required a company representing the interests of RT in the United States to register as a foreign agent, as the American law Fara requires. "The company that serves the RT America TV channel, including television production and current activities, received a letter from the Ministry of Justice," the RT sites reported . Already in the first statement on this occasion, RT editor Margarita Simonyan said that the requirement for a service company is an infringement of the rights of journalists of the company. "The war of the American establishment with our journalists is dedicated to all the beautiful people who still believed in freedom of speech. It was killed by those who invented it," Simonyan said .

By the end of September, not only Margarita Simonyan, but also the Russian Foreign Ministry representative , Maria Zakharova, spoke about the fate of journalists, and not the American company serving RT. And in November, Russian President Vladimir Putin called the introduction of the Fara law in relation to an American company serving RT, an “attack on freedom of speech”.

In mid -November, however, the American company serving RT registered as a foreign agent. In parallel, documents to the US Department of Justice were also submitted by Restor Translator , which in the United States broadcasting Russian State Radio Sputnik .

The work of Russian legislators on the “response measures” complex in relation to foreign media took place mainly in September and October, although the spectrum of these “response measures” until the last moment remained wide. At some stage, it was even proposed to include foreign social networks. Exotic proposals also sounded in the State Duma: to include in the number of "foreign agents" Western Networks of Restaurants of Fast food.

As a result, when discussing the draft law on the media, “foreign agents” in the Federation Council, Senator Lyudmila Narusova said that this document is so raw that “it opens the way to the taste or arbitrariness”.

Embed Share Embed Share The text of the copy

---

Width PX Height PX

---

The url has been copied to your clipboard

No Media Source Currently Available

0:00 0:02:37 0:00 Download the media file

Criticism of the actions of the Federal Assembly was made by the Council for Human Rights and the Development of Civil Society under the President of Russia, the chairman of which Mikhail Fedotov called the amendments to the law "written on the knee" (more with the position of the Council, you can get acquainted here ).

He expressed his attitude to the adoption of new legislation and the State Department of the United States. The representative of the American Foreign Ministry emphasized that the essence of the Fara law and the Russian law on "foreign agents" are radically different.

“In the United States, registration as a“ foreign agent ”does not affect the possibility of informing news and information at all. We simply register organizations or individuals engaged in political activities. All they need to do is register, and this is a fairly simple process,” said Heather Neoibert .

With the clarification of how different opportunities for the Russian media in the United States and the American in Russia have different opportunities, the president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Tom Kent also made: “Any new restrictions on our activities will only increase the existing imbalance between what Radio Liberty can do in Russia and the freedom that the Russian media in the United States uses. As you know, Russia Today has access to cable TV networks, which Millions of people throughout the United States are covered, and Sputnik-the FM channel in Washington itself, in addition, the journalists of Freedom pursued and even beat in Russia. pro -Russian separatists in the east of Ukraine. " The President of the RSA/RS made this statement in response to a notification of the Ministry of Justice of Russia , received by the Corporation on November 16. It reported that the work of the RSU/RS "contains signs of the performance of the functions of a foreign agent, and therefore the activities of your organization may be subjected to restrictions provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation."

“The possibility of taking measures in Russia in response to the application of the American“ Act on Registration of Foreign Agents ”causes us concern,” said US Ambassador to the Russian Federation John Huntsman , who visited the Moscow Bureau of the RSU/RS on November 17, “this law is just a tool with which we can ensure great transparency of the activities of information organizations financed by foreign governments and promoting a certain political line. Thus, in this way, in this way, People will be aware of who is behind financing and where this position comes from. "

On December 5, the Ministry of Justice of Russia has published a list of media that has been assigned the status of a "foreign agent". It included the Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RSA/RS), media projects of the Russian Radio Liberty Radio Liberty and Siberia. Radio, the Current Tature TV channel, the Tatar-Bashkir Radio Liberty service (Azatliqradiosi), Media projects of IDEL. Realii, Caucasus.real, Caucasus.real, and Caucasus. "Crimea. Realities."

“We will carefully monitor all messages from the Ministry of Justice and other Russian authorities regarding our company. At the same time, we maintain commitment to the continuation of our journalistic work in the interests of providing the accurate and objective information of our Russian -speaking audience,” the President of the Republic of Medical University/RS, the President of the RSA/RS, commented on December 5.

The Interfax agency tried to find out how exactly the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation sees the procedure for applying the Law on Media-Agents, but has received an answer that this procedure does not exist at the moment: “The Ministry of Justice of Russia establishes the procedure for the application of the functions of a foreign agent, the provisions of the Federal Law“ On Non-Profit Organizations ”, which regulates the legal status of a non-commercial organization performing the function performing the function Foreign agent .

The only real restriction that the RT channel in the United States at the moment is to refuse accreditation in the US Congress. However, such a decision was made not by American lawmakers, which would be a direct violation of the US Constitution. The decision was made by the professional workshop of journalists working in Congress. The corresponding letter to the director of the American unit of the television channel sent the Gallery of Radio and TV correspondents.

In Russia, the legislative body made a “response measure”. The Federation Council on December 5 decided to prohibit the admission of media-agent media to the Upper Chamber. The State Duma of the Russian Federation discusses this topic on Wednesday, December 6th.

• 

  Irina Lagunina

  Head of Special Projects of Russian Service Radio Liberty

  Laguninai@rferl.org