Translated material
See the Ministry of Justice and die
Minister Chuychenko said that a quarter of the “foreign agents” were freed from the stigma. Yes, only a way - civilian death
Photo: Emin Jafarov / Kommersant
The Ministry of Justice excluded 224 legal entities and individuals from the register of “foreign Agents”, the first day, the head of the department Konstantin Chuychenko said. His words, at first glance, prove that it is possible to get out of the registry and regain lost rights to himself - contrary to the words of the “foreign agents” themselves about the irreversibility of status. Here, almost a quarter was freed from the stigma (in total to the IA list from the beginning of its functioning and to this day, March 21, 2025, 953 people and organizations were introduced). We checked how exactly the lucky ones managed to do this and whether there was a crafty in the words of the minister.
The procedure for leaving the registry can be started by the “ino -agent” itself or the Ministry of Justice if the person has lost one or all the signs of a foreign agent, says Chuychenko. So the law also says. According to the Federal Law N 255-FZ “On the Monitoring of the Activities of Persons under Foreign Infant”, in order to get out of the registry, you need to stop activities and self-destroyed if we are talking about a legal entity, or die.
There are less radical methods: the Ministry of Justice must remove the status of “IA” if a person or organization “did not receive funds and other property from foreign sources, organizational, methodological, scientific and technical assistance, help in other forms” and did not engage in politics or journalism. Well, if within three months after including in the register the person returned the money received to the “foreign source”, and did not receive other assistance from him.
The problem is that over the past three years, almost none of the IA has received any foreign money, which, as a rule, is confirmed in the courts. So it is unclear what to return and to whom.
As for obtaining “help”, no one (and the law) knows that it is. You will not find explanations in any document. If we turn to judicial practice, it turns out that the Ministry of Justice as foreign assistance, support and influence on the person recognized “IA” considers the capture of this person the interview, his performance at the international event, finding abroad, using YouTube or foreign social networks (that is, any, except VK and “classmates”), the availability of a foreign site with a schedule of concerts, receipt From the “foreign agent” of salaries, receiving a salary from non-agent non-agent, which received the monetization of YouTube, that is, as it were, an infected foreign region, and even assisting other “foreign agents”. In general, it turns out, if you tie it with all this - you are no longer a “foreign agent”? Not really.
The blurry of the formulations gave rise to many comments. For example, when a year ago, the blogger Nikolai Sobolev was expelled from the register “In connection with the loss of signs of a foreign agent” (and called it a miracle), the deputy chairman of the Duma committee Anton Gorekin issued such an “explanation” : “A person must prove that he himself is not subjected to foreign influence and does not contribute to the spread of Western narratives among his audience.” Additionally, Gorelkin called Sobolev’s story "good news to forgiven Sunday." Although there would rather come up to Yuryev day.
What are Western narratives? Human rights? No, in the Putin decree, they included a list of Russian traditional values back in 2022. Free elections and a ban on censorship? No, this is recorded in our constitution. What remains? Love for imported series? Evaluation of events on the basis of UN resolutions, not Konashenkov’s releases? Or Christian faith? I recall it, the West took it much earlier than Rus' - for 500 years.
So, there are “Western narratives” is unknown. That there is a "Western influence" - too. And why, by the way, only Western? And if the “foreign agent” was under the influence of friendly China or was in a society of studying a scam? Or are they not entered in the register for this?
Well, why suddenly, with such insoluble riddles, deftly packed in the text of the law, like raisins in a roll, the Ministry of Justice began to exclude someone from the registry? You can keep it for life ...
And here everything is just simple.
On January 29, 2022, Putin instructed the Ministry of Justice to work out the issues of exclusion from the register of "Ino -Agents". The deadline is until May 1. On April 29, the Ministry of Justice of Russia for the first time excluded the functions of the “foreign agent” from the register of the media, two people - political scientist Arkady Lubarev and human rights activist Lyudmila Kuzmin. They were on the list just six months before - for the connection with the movement "Voice"*.
Two years later, Lyubarev wrote a column, accompanying it with a dick: as a “physicist”, he left the registry, but he remained the head of the legal entity. He said: nothing has changed, except for getting rid of humiliating reports on spending pensions.
Moreover, not only the dick has been preserved. The surnames of the excluded remain in the register (with a mark on the termination of the status). Lyubarev’s books in many libraries are still marked as the materials of the “foreign”, and on different sites where he is mentioned, the mark remains. “So I'm still branded. And it is even more difficult to get rid of this stigma than from the official status of “foreign agent,” writes Lyubarev. The state strictly collects from everyone who will mention the “deprivation” without the appropriate mark, but does not punish for its presence in the “amnesty”.
A year after the first pardon, the Deputy Minister of Justice Sviridenko said that the status has already been removed from 65 persons. Moreover, according to him, these are mainly individuals. There is something with mathematics. It was in the fall of 2023, now the spring of 2025, but in the register of the Ministry of Justice, if you count manually, you will find only 15 excluded individuals. And 209 legal.
Everything is simple with legal. All of them are excluded from the registry in connection with the liquidation. Part - human rights, environmental or media projects that realized that it is impossible to work under the status. As the Anglo-American school of Moscow, the publication "Taga.info" or "Ecological Watch of Sakhalin". The part was stubborn, then they were eliminated by the Ministry of Justice - as a “memorial”, for example, or the Human Rights Center “Owl”.
With the “Ekovakhta” mentioned above, it turned out completely dramatic: it was excluded from the registry twice. The first time in a grant from Leonardo DiCaprio, the organization returned all the money to the actor and philanthropist - 159 thousand dollars - and forced the Ministry of Justice to exclude it from the registry by law. Then the ministry introduced a center for the study of the salmon* - partner of Eokovakhta, and then it itself as a “under the influence” of the center. Only after this, the watch lost and self -destructed. The Ministry of Justice fights with the "IA", like balls with cats.
Another category of excluded is generally “technical”. These are meaningless legal entities that the law obliges to create “physicists” entered in the register. They automatically also fall into the register. But the practice is such that it is almost impossible to register them, and if you still have created, then you need to make some changes to the paper or go into re-registration, so it’s easier to close. Closed are also automatically excluded from the registry, improving statistics.
What about people?
Blogger Nikolai Sobolev, who was excluded from the list allegedly on the occasion of forgiven Sunday, actually simply announced the closure of his channel in connection with the new law on the ban on advertising for “foreign agents”. Prior to this, the pop character suddenly began to refuse the recording studios and in general, "worse and worse as if people were treated." He made the conclusions: “It is important for the state to separate bloggers, leaders of opinions who have received monetization from YouTube (this was a formal reason for the entry in the list of“ foreign agents ”, I remind) from real“ foreign agents ”who do not care about the country and people.”
Now Sobolev, on his own, is never a closed channel, talks about Russophobia in Ukraine, which forced Putin to start his. And soon he will tell about this on the body: the first channel allegedly promised them to replace Ivan Urgant.
Are there any more decent ways to get out of the registry? Eat. This is civilian death. This method was tested by the founder of the TEELGRAM Channel "Plaster" Alexander Litvinov. After excluding from the registry last fall, he set out his way in a post, which asked to consider a replacement for all the comments that the media was asked about.
Litvinov was included in the register of "foreign agents" in July 2023. The Ministry of Justice substantiated this by the fact that he distributed inaccurate information about the activities of authorities. The day after that, Litvinov stopped cooperation with the “glider” and stated that he intended, remaining in Russia, to focus “on activities not related to journalism and media”.
So, a way to leave the registry according to Litvinov. He emphasizes that his foreign trips "limited themselves to one fraternal hero city of 700 kilometers from Moscow." He “did not engage in journalism and media projects, and even more so political activities” (and is no longer going to go to the production and sale of women's clothing). I handed over all the reports in time. The main thing: "For a year he did not write a single post, not a single comment, he did not speak anywhere." Litvinov did not receive a single fine, just in case, avoiding crossing the road in the wrong place and make noise after 23.00, and also did not communicate with reporters.
Similarly, the Samara journalist Julia Apukhtina, who achieved the exclusion from the registry, was received. It was included in the register in the summer of 2021 for cooperation with foreign media. Excluded in March 2024. She filed an exclusion application to the Ministry of Justice, after which she began to be checked as follows: “They asked for extracts from bank accounts and a statement about the absence or availability of publications. It took two months. The check itself lasts a month from them. All publications should be marked - well, or absent, as in my case, ”sheexplained .
To disappear from the agenda, to lie on the bottom, to shut up - this is the only and, by the way, that does not guarantee a way to get rid of the stigma and related defeat in rights.
There is no condemnation of those who asked the Ministry of Justice about condescension here, only sympathy. Because now the “foreign agent” is deprived of a significant part of economic, property, political and civil rights. They take away their pensions and benefits, they cannot sell an apartment or a car (the state will take the money right away), receive interest from a deposit or a fee for their own work ... I'm not talking about participation in social activities or politics.
In court, it is impossible to challenge the Blessing decision of the Ministry of Justice. There is only one decision of the Vladivostok court that recognized the introduction of a person into the register illegal. But it also could not resist the appeal.
Since June 2013, when the Ministry of Justice endowed the first organization with the status of “IA” (it was the Eurasian Antimonopoly Association*), and until March 21, when this text was written, 953 positions were included in the register. Of these, 568 are individuals. Of these individuals, only 15 - less than 3%were able to remove the status.
However, taking into account new restrictions, it can be excluded from the list more often. Minister Chuychenko in 2022 at the section PMUF dreamed: "Why not deprive them of the opportunity to earn money at all?" That's when he and his comrades come up with how to do this, I foresee the mass exit from the register under paragraph 3 of part 1 of Article 8 of the relevant law (“death of an individual”).