Russian editions Republic and Rosbalt are recognized as “foreign agents” | News from Germany about Russia | DW

The Russian Ministry of Justice has added to the register of “foreign agents” media: on Friday, October 15, the limited liability company “Moscow Digital Media” (founder of the online edition of the Republic) and joint-stock company “RS-Balt” (founder of the information agency ” Rosbalt “).

Rosbalt calls itself a state-owned Russian publication – such a note is on its Twitter account. The news agency is headed by Natalya, the wife of former first deputy president Vladimir Putin in the FSB and ex-head of the Federal Drug Control Service Viktor Cherkesov, Novaya Gazeta writes. “As far as we know, our founder has no sources of external financing,” said Nikolai Ulyanov, editor-in-chief of Rosbalt. He called the inclusion of the news agency in the list of “foreign agents” a complete surprise.

The general director of Moscow Digital Media is Alexander Vinokurov, and the beneficiary is Natalya Sindeeva, the owner of the Dozhd TV channel (which was recognized as an “foreign agent” on August 20). Until 2016, the online edition of the Republic was called Slon.ru. It specializes in analytics and copyright columns. “From a formal point of view, the Republic does not have foreign funding. It is financed exclusively from the money of subscribers,” the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Dmitry Kolezev told Novaya Gazeta.

There are already 88 positions in the “Register of Foreign Mass Media Performing the Functions of a Foreign Agent”.

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