Putin instructed to analyze laws on “foreign agents” | News from Germany about Russia | DW

Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Justice to analyze the practice of applying the law on “foreign agents” by May 1 and “if necessary” propose changes. This was reported by the Russian media on Saturday, January 29, with reference to the list of instructions that the head of state approved following a meeting of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights (HRC).

We are talking about both the legislation of the Russian Federation on the regulation of the activities of non-profit organizations that perform the functions of a “foreign agent”, and the law on the media-“foreign agents”. The text of the instructions notes that it is necessary, among other things, to consider the issue of exclusion of organizations from the register of NCOs-“foreign agents”.

Law on “foreign agents”

In 2012, deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation amended the law “On non-profit organizations”, according to which the status of a “foreign agent” should be received by Russian NGOs engaged in “political activities” on the territory of the Russian Federation and receiving funding from abroad.

The law on media-“foreign agents” was adopted in Russia in 2017. According to it, any media outlet that receives funding or property from abroad can be considered a “foreign agent”. Taking into account subsequent changes, such status can be obtained not only by legal entities, but also by individuals.

Currently, 115 individuals and legal entities are included in the register of media outlets performing the function of a “foreign agent”. There are 73 organizations in the register of NCOs-“foreign agents”.

Possible amendments to the law on “foreign agents”

In December 2021, the State Duma proposed changing the law on “foreign agents” so that media, NGOs and individuals could only be entered into the relevant register by a court decision. Earlier, in November, members of the Human Rights Council and the Union of Journalists of Russia submitted to the State Duma their proposals for amendments to the law on “foreign agents.” In particular, they proposed to allow individuals not to label private publications, as well as to give time to eliminate violations.

Meanwhile, the petition of the OVD-Info human rights project against the law on “foreign agents”, which the authors submitted to the State Duma in early December, was signed by more than a quarter of a million people and over 240 organizations.

See also:

• “Foreign agent” – the Kremlin’s label for NGOs and the media

  Political activity is a flexible concept

  Non-profit organizations, by law, are included in the register of “foreign agents” if they are engaged in political activities in Russia with foreign money. At the same time, the profile of NGOs included in the list of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation makes it clear: the range of their activities is very wide, and the focus of many of them is not associated with politics.

• 

  “Foreign agent” – the Kremlin’s label for NGOs and the media

  In which regions of the Russian Federation are the most NPOs recognized as “foreign agents”

  DW has calculated in which regions of Russia NGOs-“foreign agents” are most often found. There are few surprises: Moscow is ahead. St. Petersburg follows the capital by a wide margin. Ekaterinburg ranks third in terms of the number of non-profit organizations that are “foreign agents”.

• 

  “Foreign agent” – the Kremlin’s label for NGOs and the media

  What happened to the recognized “foreign agents” of NGOs

  Since 2012, 200 organizations have been included in the register of “foreign agents” of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. Today, 75 of them continue their work. It is very difficult to challenge the status of a “foreign agent”, and new rules and restrictions for such organizations appear almost every year. Most of these regulations slow down the work of the commercial sector and force organizations to stop working, human rights activists are sure.

• 

  “Foreign agent” – the Kremlin’s label for NGOs and the media

  Any citizen of the Russian Federation can be recognized as a media “foreign agent”

  In December 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing individuals to be classified as media “foreign agents”. Among the first citizens of the Russian Federation to receive this status are Lev Ponomarev, the founder of the For Human Rights movement, Daria Apakhonchich, a St. Petersburg activist, and individual journalists from the Pskov Guberniya, 7×7, and Radio Liberty publications.

  Author: Elena Barysheva, Mikhail Bushuev, Elena Gunkel