“Foreign agency” chronicles #22: new faces on the register, criminal cases and fines

Every week we talk about the persecution of people who were included in the register of “foreign agents”. In the new issue: repressions against journalists, news about the Morgenstern criminal case and new fines.

New "foreign agents"

• The Sphere project is a human rights organization and charitable foundation that has been providing legal and psychological assistance to the Russian LGBTQ+ community for many years (the foundation itself was liquidated by the Ministry of Justice back in 2022, now the project itself has been added to the register).
• Pyotr Ruzavin is a Russian journalist (ex-reporter for Dozhd and Mediazona), who in August 2025 publicly stated that he had been fighting in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for more than a year.
• Ekaterina Kuznetsova is a political scientist, publicist and expert in the field of international relations.
• Ksenia Fadeeva is an activist, former head of the local headquarters of Alexei Navalny and ex-deputy of the Tomsk City Duma.

Criminal cases

On June 15, the Savelovsky District Court of Moscow toughened the sentence in the Morgenstern case for evading the duties of a “foreign agent” - the fine was increased from 7 to 8.2 million rubles. The court also banned Morgenstern from administering the site for three years.

Also on June 15, the trial against the animator and creator of “Masyanya” Oleg Kuvaev began in the Nevsky Court of St. Petersburg. He is accused of failure to comply with the duties of a “foreign agent” and public calls for activities directed against the security of Russia. According to the indictment, Kuvaev twice violated the law on “foreign agents” by failing to submit reports to the Ministry of Justice for 2023 and for the 1st quarter of 2024. Previously, he was twice brought to administrative responsibility for this.

On June 16, the magistrate of court district No. 235 in Moscow sentenced in absentia the editor-in-chief of “Project” and “Agency” Roman Badanin to a fine of 300 thousand rubles in a criminal case for failure to fulfill the duties of a “foreign agent.” The prosecutor's office indicated that after several fines under a similar administrative article, Badanin continued to publish without a plaque.

On June 17, the Magadan City Court sentenced ex-journalists of the Vesma publication in absentia. For articles about military “fakes” and evasion of duties as “foreign agents,” Andrei Grishin and ex-journalist Kirill Belokurov were sentenced to six and a half and five years and seven months in prison. The court also imposed a ban on them from administering websites and channels: Grishin - for four years, Belokurov - for two and a half.

On June 18, the Novosibirsk court sentenced the founder of Novokolledzh, Sergei Chernyshov, in absentia to 350 hours of compulsory work. He was tried for publications without “foreign agency” markings.

On June 19, the court approved the verdict for artist Yulia Tsvetkova in the case of “evading the duties of a foreign agent” - a fine of 120 thousand rubles. The grounds for persecution were the lack of “foreign agency” markings on publications and the failure to submit reports to the Ministry of Justice.

Also on June 19, the Moskovsky District Court of Cheboksary passed a verdict in absentia to the founder of the “Angry Chuvashia” project, Semyon Kochkin. He was found guilty in the case of “failure to fulfill the duties of a foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Taking into account Kochkin’s previous sentence on two articles at once - about “discrediting” the army and the same “failure to fulfill foreign agency duties” - the court finally sentenced him to 2 years and 3 months of imprisonment in a maximum security colony, as well as a fine of 150 thousand rubles. Kochkin, as a matter of principle, did not send reports to the Ministry of Justice and was charged five times under the administrative article on “foreign agents.” In the case materials, the security forces separately noted Semyon’s post on Telegram, where he ironically called inclusion in the list of “foreign agents” the authorities’ reaction to his productive work and emphasized that he found “many good and brave people” in this register.

Fines

From June 15 to June 19, the courts imposed at least 18 fines for non-compliance with “foreign agency” legislation” (Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code):

• journalist Galina Timchenko. The amount of the fine is hidden in the court decision ;
• journalist Alexey Kovalev. The amount of the fine is hidden in the court decision ;
• coordinator of “Voice” in the Pskov region Vladimir Zhilinsky - 40 thousand rubles;
• Pskov journalist Alexey Semenov - 30 thousand rubles;
• pianist Evgeny Kisin. The amount of the fine is hidden in the court decision ;
• lawyer and executive director of the Memorial Human Rights Center Anastasia Garina. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• economist Konstantin Sonin. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• ecologist Evgeny Simonov. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Andrei Kozyrev. The amount of the fine is hidden in the court decision ;
• General Director of the Dozhd TV channel Natalya Sindeeva. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• founder of the Anderson cafe chain Anastasia Tatulova. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• economist Sergei Guriev. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• Director of the Institute of Human Rights Valentin Gefter. The court prohibited the publication of the decision imposing an administrative penalty;
• ANO "Institute of Human Rights". The court prohibited the publication of the decision imposing an administrative penalty;
• Journalist Alexandra Prokopenko. The amount of the fine is hidden in the court decision ;
• Literary critic, journalist and exhibition curator Anna Narinskaya. The court decision detailing the case has not yet been published;
• Economic commentator Maxim Blunt (Maxim Matveichenkov). The amount of the fine is hidden in the court decision ;
• Voice coordinator in the Moscow region Inna Karezina. The court's decision detailing the case has not yet been published.

Other news

• On June 17, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow rejected journalist Maria Latsinskaya’s claim to challenge the status of a foreign agent;
• On June 18, the Second Cassation Court of General Jurisdiction refused to allow journalist Mikhail Komin and the Zemsky Congress organization to satisfy cassation appeals in cases challenging the status of a “foreign agent.”