The State Duma approved the creation in the Russian Federation of a single register of individuals-foreign agents | News from Germany about Russia | DW

The State Duma in the second, main, reading approved the amendment, according to which Russia will create a unified register of individuals who have been declared “foreign agents” or who are associated with them. This was reported by Interfax on Thursday, March 10.

This list will include individuals who themselves are recognized as “foreign agents”, as well as former and current employees, founders and heads of media, non-profit organizations and public associations “performing the functions of a foreign agent.”

In addition, people who, in the opinion of the Russian authorities, are engaged in political activities and receive money or material assistance from “foreign agents” will get there.

The deputies adopted the amendment as part of the consideration of the bill on uniform principles for conducting remote electronic voting in elections in Russia. Other amendments to this draft specify the requirements for the participation of “foreign agents” and citizens “affiliated” with them in the elections.

About 400 “foreign agents” in Russia

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation will maintain a single register, according to the amendment. Currently, the department does not maintain any registers of individuals affiliated with “foreign agents”.

In Russia, about 400 organizations and individuals are recognized as “foreign agents”. Individuals designated as “media-foreign agents” are included in the same register as organizations with this status.

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation must also maintain a separate register of individuals – “foreign agents”, but at present there is no data on persons with such a status.

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