Human rights activist Lev Ponomarev and four other people were added to the list of foreign agents

For the first time, the Ministry of Justice included individuals, including journalists and human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, in the register of media outlets performing the functions of foreign agents. This was reported on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

The list included the head of the human rights movement “For Human Rights” Lev Ponomarev, journalist of Radio Liberty and MBH Media Lyudmila Savitskaya, journalist of “7×7” Sergei Markelov, editor-in-chief of “Pskov Province” Denis Kamalyagin and civil activist and actionist Daria Apakhonchich .

It is likely that Savitskaya, Markelov and Kamalyagin were added to the register of foreign agents in connection with cooperation with Radio Liberty, which was added to the register of foreign agents in 2017.

• At the end of December, bills tightening the law on foreign agents were introduced and partially considered in the State Duma. Thus, repeated violation of reporting under this law will result in up to 5 years in prison. According to the new clarifications, the status of a foreign agent can be obtained by an individual who is engaged in political activities and receives money for this from abroad. Another bill prohibits the dissemination of information from foreign agents in the media without a special note.