The Ministry of Justice recognized Boris Grebenshchikov, Sota.Vision, Bumaga and five other people as “foreign agents”

The Ministry of Justice included six people, two publications and one non-profit organization in the registers of “foreign agents”. This is reported on the department's website.

The “foreign agents” were:

• Philip Goldschmidt, the former chief rabbi of Moscow, left Russia in 2022 after pressure from the authorities. According to the Ministry of Justice, he disseminated false information about the Russian authorities and opposed the war in Ukraine.
• Alexey Gorpinchenko is a journalist for Estonian Radio 4. “He disseminated false information” about the actions of the authorities and the Russian Armed Forces, and also spoke out against the war in Ukraine, the department believes.
• Boris Grebenshchikov is a musician, founder and permanent leader of the Aquarium group. “He carried out concert activities in foreign countries with the aim of providing financial assistance to Ukraine,” says the Ministry of Justice website.
• Andrey Karaulov is a former presenter on federal channels who left Russia after the start of a full-scale invasion, a defendant in criminal cases of libel against the head of Rostec Sergei Chemezov and film director Nikita Mikhalkov . “Disseminated false information” and participated, according to the department, in the creation of “information material of a foreign agent.”
• Andrey Morev is a member of the Moscow branch of the Yabloko party, the former head of the Yakimanka district in Moscow. According to the department, he distributed materials from “foreign agents” and “unreliable information” about government agencies.
• Mikhail Timonov is a deputy of the Moscow City Duma, a member of the A Just Russia faction. The grounds for inclusion in the register are the same as Morev’s.
• Autonomous non-profit educational organization "Anglo-American School of Moscow". Announced closure on May 12, 2023 after a court ruled that the school violated educational requirements. According to the Ministry of Justice, “carried out activities to promote LGBT relations.”
• Sota.Vision publication. Distributed materials from “foreign agents” and opposed the war in Ukraine, according to the Ministry of Justice website.
• Edition "Paper". The department gives the same reasons as in the case of Sota.Vision.

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).

In the fall of 2021, 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. In December 2021, together with the Center for the Protection of Media Rights, we began to provide legal support to people and organizations that were included in the registers of “foreign agents.”