“Foreign agent” chronicles #24: the case of the “First Department”, persecution of LGBT activists and new faces on the register

The “First Department” chronicles the persecution of people who were included in the register of “foreign agents.”

New "foreign agents"

On July 3, the Ministry of Justice once again updated the list of “foreign agents.” Here's who got in this week:

• literary critic Galina Yuzefovich;
• journalist of the publication “Project” Ekaterina Arenina;
• director of the School of Civic Education, international consultant to Democracy without Borders and editor of the Sapere Aude project Inna Berezkina;
• media project "ROMB".

The “First Department” was included in the register of “foreign agents” due to their professional activities

On June 22, the Supreme Court rejected the cassation appeal against the decision of the Russian Ministry of Justice to include the “First Department” in the register of “foreign agents.” This is the last instance in Russia in which we could challenge the decision of the Ministry of Justice. The next stage is filing a complaint with the UN Human Rights Committee. As the official reason for the “foreign agency”, the Ministry of Justice indicated that the “First Department”:

• “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine”;
• “disseminated false information about the decisions taken by public authorities of the Russian Federation and the policies pursued by them”;
• “disseminated information facilitating the provision of financial support to Ukraine and organizations whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation”;
• “took part in the creation and dissemination of messages and materials of foreign agents to an unlimited number of people”;
• “cooperates with persons included in the register of foreign agents.”

Refusing the cassation appeal, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation separately emphasized that the “First Department” project “distributes materials that express opinions on the decisions made by public authorities of the Russian Federation and the policies pursued by them, aimed at the formation of socio-political views and beliefs,” and “also protects and supports persons accused of committing crimes directed against the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the state.” That is, the court directly confirmed that the “First Department” was included in the register of the Ministry of Justice for its professional activities.

Details of the criminal case of journalist Vadim Vaganov

In St. Petersburg, a criminal case is being investigated for repeated violation of the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) against LGBT activist, former member of the St. Petersburg “Yabloko”, journalist of the portal “Guys +” Vadim Vaganov. He was initiated on April 30, 2026. On May 11, 2026, Vaganov was put on the wanted list.

As the First Department learned, the formal reason was two posts in the Khrenogubka telegram channel, which is hosted by Vaganov. In the first, he writes that on the English-language Internet, Diana Arbenina continues to be mistakenly presented as a “militant LGBT feminist”; the second publication is a repost of the Guys+ message that Kinopoisk changed the translation in the Steins Gate anime to avoid “LGBT hints.”

According to investigators, these publications were posted in the public domain without indicating that they were “produced, distributed and (or) directed by a foreign agent” or related to the activities of a foreign agent,” and also became available to at least 5,710 Telegram users.

Before the criminal case, Vaganov was twice fined under an administrative article for violating the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent.” The investigation believes that after two administrative penalties, Vaganov “continued his illegal activities” and in January 2026 again published materials without “foreign agent” markings.

Vaganov was included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of “foreign agents” on November 22, 2024. In April 2025, it became known that in the materials of the case challenging the status of a “foreign agent,” the Ministry of Justice called him an activist of the non-existent “International LGBT Social Movement,” which the Supreme Court recognized as an “extremist” organization and banned in Russia. According to lawyer Maxim Olenichev, this was the first known case when the department named a specific person as a participant in this “movement.”

Details of the criminal case of human rights activist Igor Kochetkov

Human rights activist and co-founder of the Russian LGBT Network Igor Kochetkov is wanted in a criminal case for evading the duties of a “foreign agent” (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). This follows from the case materials at the disposal of the First Department. The search for Kochetkov became known on March 26, but the article was not named.

A criminal case was opened on March 13, 2024. It follows from the resolution that one of the initiators of the prosecution was the FSB Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region - from it the Investigative Committee received materials about Kochetkov’s publications. The grounds also included a report from an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on the discovery of signs of a crime and inspection materials.

From the case materials it follows that it is connected with the already deleted telegram channel “Igor Kochetkov”. The investigation believes that in 2023, Kochetkov published two materials there without “foreign agency” markings. In 2023, Kochetkov was fined twice under administrative law for posts in the same channel. In total, Kochetkov was brought to administrative responsibility 11 times: 8 times for not having a “foreign agent” sign and 3 times for failing to submit “foreign agent” reports.

10 days after the initiation of the criminal case, the investigator suspended the investigation due to the inability to ensure Kochetkov’s participation. It was resumed two years later, after which the investigation asked MTS for data on connections between subscribers, studied bank information and pointed out the need to charge Kochetkov in absentia.

On March 16, 2026, the investigator issued a search warrant for Igor Kochetkov. To do this, the investigation must establish that the whereabouts of the person are unknown: he does not live at his place of registration, his residential address has not been established, and people who know where he is could not be found. In the decision on the case, the investigator indicated this information not about him, but about “suspect Bazhenov A.D.”

Igor Kochetkov was added to the register of “foreign agents” on November 12, 2021. In December of the same year he left Russia.

Other criminal cases

On June 30, the court received a criminal case against journalist Vladimir Raevsky, It's My City noted . The case was opened under the “foreign agency” article due to the lack of markings under publications on social networks (Part 2 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). Raevsky worked on the TV channels “Culture”, “Russia 2”, “Channel 4”, and also collaborated with many independent publications. In 2022, he opposed the war with Ukraine and left Russia.

On July 3, the court received a criminal case against the editor-in-chief of Mediazona, Sergei Smirnov, who is accused of failing to fulfill the duties of a “foreign agent.” The indictment states that, despite fines for posts without the “foreign agent” label (for July and November 2023), he made four more publications in his Telegram channels without indicating this status.

Fines

The following received fines for failure to submit or late submission of “foreign agency” reports (Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code)

• blogger and femme activist Nika Vodwood - 50 thousand rubles;
• Z-activist Roman Alekhin - 30 thousand rubles;
• sociologist Viktor Vakhshtain - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• writer Dmitry Glukhovsky - the amount of the fine is unknown;
• journalist, publicist and chairman of the Journalistic Solidarity trade union Igor Yakovenko - the amount of the fine is unknown;
• journalist Alexander Shmurnov - the amount of the fine is unknown;
• head of the human rights project Gulagu.net Vladimir Osechkin - the amount of the fine is unknown;
• journalist Konstantin Eggert - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• oil and gas analyst Mikhail Krutikhin - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• Chechen public figure Ruslan Kutaev - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• poet Alexander Delfinov (Smirnov) - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• director, screenwriter and writer Grigory Amnuel - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• political scientist and publicist Andrei Piontkovsky - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• politician Lyubov Sobol - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• editor-in-chief of the publication “Project” Roman Badanin - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published;
• editor-in-chief of the Krasnodar publication “Protocol” Alexander Savelyev - the court decision with the details of the case has not yet been published.

At least four “foreign agents” failed to challenge the fines in the appellate court:

• lawyer Nikolai Bobrinsky - failure to report himself to the Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent (Part 1 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code);
• Institute of Law and Public Policy - failure to submit or untimely submission of “foreign agency” reports (Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code). The second complaint was also not satisfied;
• opposition politician Gennady Gudkov - failure to submit or untimely submission of “foreign agency” reports (Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code);
• rapper Legalize (Andrey Menshikov) - failure to submit or untimely submission of “foreign agency” reports (Part 2 of Article 19.34 of the Administrative Code).