Moscow's Tagansky District Court fined feminist activist and blogger Nika Vodvud (nixelpixel) 40,000 rubles for not labeling her as a "foreign agent" in her YouTube video, the First Department reports .
Vodvud did not put markings in the vlogs on her YouTube channel, where she talks about walking in the park, going grocery shopping and making carpets. The hearing took place on May 27, Vodvud was found guilty under Part 4 of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses.
The activist was added to the register of "foreign agents" on March 10, 2023. According to the Ministry of Justice, she received money from foreign sources, made statements in support of Ukraine, formed a negative attitude towards military service and promoted LGBTQ relations. In April of the same year, the Court of Appeal refused to remove this status from Vodvud. In December, a protocol was drawn up against the blogger for the absence of marking.
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 the "foreign agent" regulation. You can read about who and on what grounds are recognized as "foreign agents", what restrictions these people and organizations face, as well as what risks those who interact with them bear in our report .
In the fall of 2021, OVD-Info launched the Inoteka project. We study the practice of applying laws on "foreign agents", talk about their impact on civil society and specific people, initiate discussions with experts and propose ways of possible changes. In December 2021, together with the Center for the Protection of Media Rights, we began providing legal support to people and organizations that ended up on the registers of "foreign agents".