Musician Andrei Makarevich was recognized as a “foreign agent” due to an interview with foreign media

The leader of the Time Machine group, Andrei Makarevich, was recognized as a “foreign agent” due to statements in foreign media, including an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon. RBC writes about this with reference to the musician’s lawyer Alexander Peredruk.

“We can assume from the Ministry of Justice’s objections that the reason is the dissemination of information, including his opinion about the SVO . No foreign funding was found, but since he gave interviews to foreign journalists, this was considered “foreign influence” - supposedly they provided him with a platform to spread his opinion,” the defense lawyer added.

Andrei Makarevich was added to the register of individual “foreign agents” on September 2. On November 10, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow rejected the claim to invalidate the decision of the Ministry of Justice.

Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon was recognized as a “foreign agent” back in September.

December 12 The reasons for including musician Andrei Makarevich in the register of “foreign agents” became known in more detail. Pavel Chikov reports this with reference to the court decision.

From the decision it became known that Center “E” began checking the musician’s activities. Security officials noted that Makarevich “systematically disseminates” negative opinions about the decisions of government bodies and “identifies the Russian Federation and Nazi Germany.” The dissemination of negative opinions and interviews, including with the Dozhd TV channel and Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon, according to representatives of the E Center, are “political activities.”

The court concluded that Makarevich “deliberately influenced” the audience with the goal of “propaganda of a deviant model of behavior that does not correspond to the state policy of the Russian Federation.”

• 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 2021 and 2022 .
• In February 2022, OVD-Info launched the Inoteka project. We explore the practice of applying laws on “foreign agents”, talk about their impact on civil society and specific people, initiate discussions with experts and suggest ways of possible changes.