The Ministry of Justice recognized the "ino -agent" of the Pskov politician Alexei Menov

The Ministry of Justice of Russia on Friday declared “Foreign Agents for Students for Students“ Thunderstorm ”, an independent media about the problems of Ecology“ Cedar ”, journalist Sergei Koldomsky, known under the name Shelin, and the Pskov opposition politician Alexei Malov.

Sergey Shelin - a political observer. For many years he worked in the St. Petersburg news agency Baltinfo. Baltinfo was included in the list of the so-called media-foreign agents in 2015, after which it ceased to work. Sergei Shelin, after the start of the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, moved to Finland.

Alexey Malov - a politician from the Pskov region, a member of the Communist Party, a former municipal deputy of the Gdovsky district.

According to the Ministry of Justice, the new participants in the list “carried out actions aimed at the formation of a negative image of the Russian Federation”, distributed “fakes” about the decisions made by the public authorities and the policy they pursue, and also distributed messages and materials of other “foreign agents”.

• The legislation on foreign agents in Russia appeared in 2012. The law allowed the Ministry of Justice to recognize non-profit organizations by agents if they receive financing from abroad and are engaged in political activities. The criteria for which such activities are determined are not clearly defined in the law, which allows the authorities to persecute organizations working in the field of education, culture, healthcare, ecology, and the protection of human rights.
• Subsequently, it became possible to recognize the media and individuals in foreign agents, including those who do not receive foreign financing, but "are under foreign influence." What exactly should be considered foreign influence, Russian legislation does not specify.