Kolmanovsky, Lobanov, “Conscious Objector Movement” and other new “foreign agents”

The Ministry of Justice has again added to the register of “foreign agents”. Information about this appeared on the department's website.

The list included:

• Robert Latypov - ex-head of Perm Memorial; a defendant in a criminal case regarding the export of Memorial's archival documents from Russia to Germany after its liquidation;
• Ilya Kolmanovsky is a scientific journalist, host of the “Naked Mole-Rat” podcast, traveler and regular participant in the “Direct Speech” lecture hall;
• Leonid Nevzlin - entrepreneur, public figure, held key positions in the Yukos oil company and Menatep Bank; sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment for organizing murders and assassinations;
• Vitaly Bovar is a Russian opposition politician, deputy of the municipal council of the Vladimir District municipality in St. Petersburg;
• Sasha Belik – coordinator of the “Movement of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service”, head of advocacy for the Sfera Foundation, which protects the rights of LGBT people;
• Evgeny Stupin - Moscow City Duma deputy;
• Mikhail Lobanov - ex-candidate for State Duma deputy, left activist, associate professor at Moscow State University; in December 2022 and June 2023 , he was searched as a witness in the case against former State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev;
• Community Center “Action” - a space of support and communication for transpeople and other queer people;
• The Conscious Objector Movement is a human rights project that provides advisory, psychological and legal assistance to conscientious objectors to military service.

According to the department, these people and organizations distributed materials from “foreign agents” and other foreign sources. As other reasons for inclusion in the register, the Ministry of Justice on various occasions mentioned support for Ukraine, dissemination of false information about the Russian army and propaganda of LGBT relations.

• The legislation on “foreign agents” is becoming stricter every year. On December 1, 2022, the law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence” came into force, as well as numerous legislative amendments to “foreign agency” regulation. You can read about the list of “affiliated persons”, new registers and other innovations in the law on “foreign agents” in the analysis of OVD-Info .
• In addition, Vladimir Putin signed a law on imprisonment for a term of up to five years for “foreign agents” who were brought to justice twice in a year for violating the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” (Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code).
• Another package of bills, making life more difficult for “foreign agents” and those who are trying to help them, was adopted in the first reading this week.