On September 29, the Ministry of Justice included OVD-Info in the register of unregistered public associations acting as a «foreign agent». In 2021, 11 media outlets, 42 journalists and 8 NPOs were also included in the registers of «foreign agents». We view this as an act of governmental pressure. The legislation on «foreign agents» is aimed to weaken and destroy the institutions of civil society and should be abolished. Sign our petition!
The law on «foreign agent» NPOs appeared in Russia in July 2012. It allowed the Ministry of Justice to recognize non-profit organizations as «foreign agents» provided that they receive funding from abroad and engage in «political activity». Simultaneously, «political activity» is interpreted really broadly. It includes organizing rallies and discussions, participating in pickets, monitoring elections, and even spreading opinions about the current government on social media.
Such organizations should apply to the Ministry of Justice in person with a request to include them in the register of «foreign agent» NPOs, and then accompany all their materials with an appropriate note. In addition, they are required to report on their activity and publish reports about it on the Internet every six months. Failure to fulfill any obligations imposed by the status of a «foreign agent» entails multimillion-dollar fines and may even lead to criminal liability of the founder or participant of an NPO.
In 2017, a new concept appeared in Russian legislation — the media outlet acting as a «foreign agent». The first to be included in the new register were «Voice of America», the TV channel «Present Time», «Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty» (RFE/RL) and 6 of its media projects. The authorities explained the adoption of this law to be a retaliatory measure to the requirement of the US Department of Justice to register the RT America TV channel sponsored from the Russian budget as a «foreign agent» in the United States.
In 2019, the law on «foreign agents» was changed again. Now it is possible to recognize not only a legal entity but also an individual as the «foreign agent» media. In order to be one, it is enough to participate in the production of content created by the «foreign agent» media and receive funding from it or other foreign sources. Over the past year alone, 20 journalists and 6 media outlets have been included in the register of «foreign agents».
Active updates of the lists of «foreign agent» media are not the only thing that the year 2021 is memorable for. Since this year, the Ministry of Justice has started to maintain two more registers of «foreign agents»: the register of unregistered public associations and the register of individuals acting as «foreign agents». In order to get into the first one, you need to receive funding from abroad and participate in «political activity». To obtain the second status, it is enough to at least once receive financial, material or organizational and methodological support from abroad. The public movement for the protection of the rights of voters «Golos» (meaning «vote» or «voice») was the first to get into the register of unregistered public associations. The second registry has not been updated yet.
At the same time, a new category of projects that find it virtually impossible to continue their work keeps forming in Russia — «undesirable» organizations. This label appeared in 2015 as a countermeasure in response to the «Crimean» US sanctions. The decision to include an organization in this register is jointly made by the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After that, the Ministry of Justice enters it into the appropriate register.
If an organization is assigned the status of «undesirable», its activities are completely suspended: it is prohibited for it to operate on the territory of Russia, and its subsidiaries must be eradicated. Besides that, banks immediately freeze all accounts of organizations recognized as «undesirable» in Russia, and the websites of such organizations are blocked. Not only the pages of the «undesirable» organizations themselves can be blocked, but also all resources on the Internet that reprint their materials or simply link to them.
The continuation of work is criminalized. A case can be initiated against the head of an «undesirable» organization, as well as an ordinary employee (even someone who works off the books) or someone who makes reposts of materials of an «undesirable» organization. At first, the employee faces administrative punishment. The second violation will result in a criminal case with a penalty of up to four years in prison. The head will immediately face a criminal charge and punishment up to six years in prison.
The first to be included in the register of «undesirable» organizations were four American foundations that previously funded journalistic and human rights projects in Russia. In 2017, the British organization of Mikhail Khodorkovsky was added to the list, after which the persecution of members of the «Open Russia» movement began. This year, due to cooperation with Khodorkovsky’s «undesirable» organizations, the websites of «MBK Media», «Open Media» and «Postcard’s Rights Protection» were blocked. All of them announced the termination of their work. For the same reason, the website of the «Team 29» was blocked. The «Project» became the first media resource to receive the status of an «undesirable» organization.
Despite the fact that the status of an «undesirable» organization is very different from the status of a «foreign agent», they are both discriminatory and are used to repress those who are inconvenient to the authorities.
