Former Dozhd presenter Maria Borzunova was recognized as a “foreign agent” due to transfers from journalist friends

Former Dozhd presenter Maria Borzunova said in her Telegram channel that she was included in the list of media “foreign agents” due to transfers from her colleagues and journalist friends.

According to Borzunova, the Ministry of Justice considered 3 transfers totaling 1,290 rubles from ex-Moscow Times journalist Evan Gershkovich and 18 transactions totaling 10,270 rubles from former Dozhd producer Nadine Lahbabi as foreign financing. In the extract from the Federal Service for Financial Monitoring, presented by the Ministry of Justice, “USA” was indicated next to Gershkovich’s surname, and “Belarus” was indicated next to Lahbabi’s surname. In addition, the Ministry of Justice indicated that Borzunova worked for Dozhd, disseminated information from Meduza, Mediazona, and her colleague Daniil Sotnikov, also recognized as a “media foreign agent.”

“Evan Gershkovich is my closest friend, with whom we spent a lot of time together. That is, this thousand rubles was conditionally bought for each other to drink in bars and so on. <…> With [Nadine], we probably transferred money for the conditional “Kitchen in the area” and an Americano in the coffee shop next to the office at “Flakon”,” the journalist noted, emphasizing that she is now “an agent of Belarus (and for 1000 US rubles! )".

The Ministry of Justice added Maria Borzunova to the list of media “foreign agents” on April 1.

• At the end of December 2020, the State Duma adopted changes to the legislation on “foreign agents”. According to new clarifications, the status of “foreign agent” can be obtained by an individual engaged in political activities and receiving money for this from abroad. Another bill prohibits the dissemination in the media of information from “foreign agents” without a special mark. Tightening of legislation continued in February 2021.