“Foreign agent” chronicles No. 21: new law, new fines, not a single new “foreign agent”

Every week we talk about the persecution of people who were included in the register of “foreign agents”. In the new issue: analysis of the bill that expands restrictions and strengthens financial control on the part of the Ministry of Justice, news about the criminal case of Monetochka and many, many fines.

Missed Friday

There is such a tradition: if Friday falls on a public holiday, then, most likely, the Ministry of Justice will prefer rest to new repressions. The agency traditionally updates the register of “foreign agents” once a week on Fridays.

It seems that on June 12, Russia Day, the ministry, like other government agencies, went on a long three-day weekend and decided not to issue further orders.

Therefore, the Ministry of Justice register has not been replenished.

New law against “foreign agents”

On Tuesday, June 9, the State Duma, in the third (final) reading, adopted a bill prepared by a group of parliamentarians led by Vasily Piskarev, which significantly expands restrictions on persons and organizations recognized as “foreign agents”, and also strengthens financial control by the Ministry of Justice.

Main changes:

• Complete ban on social advertising: “Foreign agents” are prohibited from acting as customers of social advertising, as well as placing it on their resources. In essence, this blocks any of their participation in charitable and socially significant projects.
• Exclusion from the “regulatory guillotine”: The legislation on “foreign agents” was included in the list of exceptions from the federal law “On Mandatory Requirements”, which protects citizens and businesses from excessive government control. This will simplify checks against persons from the register.
• Prompt access of the Ministry of Justice to banking data: The Department will be able to request from banks information about transactions, accounts and deposits of “foreign agents”, as well as persons “under foreign influence”, in electronic form (in agreement with the Central Bank).
• Credit institutions will be required to provide information within three working days.
• Complicating the procedure for leaving the register: If the Ministry of Justice refuses to remove a “foreign agent” from the list, it will be possible to re-apply only after a year. For individuals who are included in the register for the first time, the right to re-apply in the usual (not simplified) manner is retained. A provision has also been introduced for automatic exclusion from the register in the event of liquidation of a legal entity by tax authorities.
• Transition to electronic reporting: From September 1, 2026, mandatory submission of reports in electronic form will be introduced. At the same time, “foreign agents” will still be required to provide notifications about the absence of changes in information on paper.

Refusals to challenge status

On Monday, June 8, the St. Petersburg City Court upheld the decision of the district court that fined opposition politician and former head of Open Russia Andrei Pivovarov. The reason for the penalty was the politician’s refusal to independently submit an application to the Ministry of Justice to include himself in the register of “foreign agents.”

On Thursday, June 11, the Moscow City Court rejected the appeal of the famous lawyer and author of legal books Boris Kuznetsov. The defense tried to challenge the legality of the decision of the lower court, which had previously refused to exclude Kuznetsov from the register of “foreign agents.”

Fines-fines-fines

Russian courts continue to hold citizens and organizations accountable for violating laws on “foreign agents.” Over the past week, fines under Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (failure to provide information about oneself to the authorized body) were received by:

• June 5: co-founder of the human rights media project “OVD-Info” Gleb Okhotin and orthopedic traumatologist Andrey Volna;
• June 8: journalist Denis Kataev and the human rights organization “Nasiliyu.net”;
• June 10: journalist and editor-in-chief of T-Invariant Olga Orlova;
• June 11: ex-editor of Channel One Marina Ovsyannikova.

Important: these are only those court decisions that the First Department became aware of; in reality there may be more.

Criminal case against Monetochka

The criminal case against Monetochka (Elizaveta Gyrdymova) for evading the duties of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) was transferred to the magistrate of court precinct No. 439 of the Basmanny district of Moscow, Irina Budanova.

The reason for the persecution was the absence of “foreign agency” disclaimers in the artist’s publications. The capital's prosecutor's office erroneously reported in a press release that the case was sent to the Basmanny District Court, while cases under this article are under the jurisdiction of magistrates.

Cases for mentioning “foreign agents”

A court in Zelenograd found engineer Sergei Pshenichnikov guilty of mentioning the human rights project OVD-Info without indicating its “foreign agent” status. The exact amount of the fine is unknown, since Pshenichnikov is located outside of Russia. The reason for the protocol was the verdict of the same court dated July 31, 2025, according to which the engineer was sentenced in absentia to 7 years in prison under the article on military “fakes” for anti-war posts. In May 2026, Rosfinmonitoring also included Pshenichnikov in the register of “extremists and terrorists.”

The editor-in-chief of the Yekaterinburg publication Vechernie Vedomosti, Vladislav Postnikov, announced fines for mentioning the thirteenth world chess champion and opposition politician Garry Kasparov without labeling him a “foreign agent.” The legal entity of the publication was fined 40 thousand rubles, the editor-in-chief himself received two fines in the amount of 3 and 4 thousand rubles. Roskomnadzor's claims were caused by a news compilation of cultural events, which mentioned a lecture about the famous 1997 chess match between Kasparov and the supercomputer Deep Blue.