Translated material
Bills expanding legislation on “foreign agents” have been introduced to the State Duma
A group of deputies led by Vasily Piskarev introduced bills No. and No. into the State Duma, which tighten the “foreign agency” legislation. The relevant information is in the telegram channel of the State Duma Commission to investigate facts of interference of foreign states in the internal affairs of Russia.
195 145–8 195 130–8 published OVD-Info lawyer Daria Korolenko got acquainted with the content of the amendments and notes that most of the proposed changes are about clarifying the wording, however, the proposed bills expand the scope of articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses:
“Whereas previously fines for violation of requirements were provided for those who “perform the functions of a foreign agent,” now those who only “intend” to act as foreign agents can also be fined. The concept of “intent” is not limited in any way: one can say that someone “intended to be a foreign agent” because he knew about the impending foreign funding and did not provide information. Or, for example, he planned to participate in the discussion of legislation, send appeals to government agencies (the new law on foreign agents has greatly expanded the concept of political activity) - in such situations we will be talking about an administrative offense,” Korolenko explained.
Repeated violation of administrative norms on “foreign agents” leads to criminal prosecution under the article on “malicious evasion” of requirements for foreign agents (Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code).
may lead Korolenko also noted that the Ministry of Justice interprets the concept of “foreign funding” extremely broadly: for example, journalist Maria Borzunova is considered a “foreign agent” because of three transfers totaling 1,290 rubles from ex-Moscow Times journalist Evan Gershkovich and 18 transactions in the amount of 10 270 rubles from former Dozhd producer Nadine Lahbabi.
admitted “After the new law on foreign agents comes into force, it will not be necessary to prove even the fact of financing - it will be enough to just indicate the presence of ‘foreign influence,’” the lawyer added.
Law - OVD-Info launched the project "". We investigate practices of pressure on civil initiatives and protect victims from laws on “foreign agents.” Inoteka - At the end of December 2020, the State Duma introduced 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 over the years.