St. Petersburg lawyer Viktor Drozdov and Volgograd lawyer Roman Melnichenko received letters from the Ministry of Justice warning them of the need to indicate the status of "foreign agent" when reposting individuals and organizations included in the agency's register, Mediazona reports .
Viktor Drozdov published such a warning on his Telegram channel on July 18. In the document, the agency indicated that the lawyer reposted The Moscow Times materials on his Telegram channel without indicating that the publication was a “foreign agent.”
"Based on the above and guided by paragraph 6 of part 9 of article 10 of Federal Law No. 255-FZ, the Russian Ministry of Justice issues a warning to V.A. Drozdov, obliging him to eliminate the above violation by September 27, 2024 and report it to the Russian Ministry of Justice," the letter from the Ministry of Justice says. The agency also threatened Drozdov with administrative liability.
A similar warning received by Roman Melnichenko was published on July 22 by lawyer Mikhail Benyash. The Ministry of Justice charged Melnichenko with "dissemination" of SOTAvision material, without indicating that the publication was included in the register of "foreign agents."
Clause 6 of Part 9 of Article 10 of Federal Law No. 255-FZ "On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence" states that "upon receipt of information that a person specified in Part 5 of Article 1 of this Federal Law, by his actions (inactions), contributes to the violation by a foreign agent of the legislation of the Russian Federation on foreign agents, issue such person a written warning indicating the violation committed and the period for its elimination, which shall be no less than one month."
OVD-Info lawyer Valeria Vetoshkina comments on the new practice of the Ministry of Justice:
“Foreign agent legislation only requires registered media outlets to indicate that the person or organization they mention is included in the register of ‘foreign agents.’”
However, according to the new law "On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence", it is prohibited to facilitate the circumvention of restrictions for foreign agents. This is how the Ministry of Justice explains the illegality of reposting publications of "foreign agents" who have not put their own markings - supposedly this helps them circumvent restrictions.
That is, it is still possible to mention "foreign agents" without marking, but a repost without marking may be grounds for a fine. It is impossible to predict how widely the authorities will apply this rule, since all foreign agent legislation is written so broadly that literally anyone can become a "foreign agent."
21:15 Journalist Kirill Krivosheev also received a warning from the Ministry of Justice, the Slovo Zashchiteti Telegram channel reports . He was charged with reposting the publication Kholod in his personal Telegram channel Deserter from Infowar.
- 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 December 2022, Vladimir Putin also signed a law on imprisonment for "foreign agents" who were held accountable twice in one year under an administrative article on violating the procedure for the activities of a "foreign agent" (Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). More than 10 cases have already been opened under the criminal article on evading the duties of a "foreign agent" (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code): for example, rapper Oksimiron and feminist activist Daria Serenko were put on the wanted list under it.