The draft law “On Control of the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence” proposes to consolidate and update the main provisions contained in several laws into a single legislative act. Accordingly, foreign agent status will be established.
Who is the foreign agent?
If, according to the text of the document, it can be considered a foreign agent, an individual or legal entity (including a commercial company), as well as any public organization, it is acceptable. “under the support and (or) other forms of foreign influence” and engages in political activities or gathers information in the field of military activities of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, public institutions and political parties as well as government institutions and religious associations won’t recognize foreign agents.
What is “external influence”?
The bill defines foreign influence as being provided by a foreign source to a support or aid worker. “to influence a person by coercion, persuasion or other means”.
Support shall be considered the provision of funds or other property, as well as the provision of scientific, technical, organizational and methodological assistance by a foreign source.
“Any contact with a foreigner, an international organization, or even officials of a foreign state can be interpreted as foreign influence,” lawyer Tatyana Glushkova told the publication in an interview. “Kommersan”.
“The category of influence has not been defined, for example, a friend whose husband is a foreigner may fall into this category,” said lawyer Anastasia Burakova.
Who are the “foreign sources”?
According to the draft, foreign sources would include foreign states and public authorities, international and foreign organizations, foreign nationals and stateless persons.
Russian citizens and organizations that receive money or act as an intermediary in obtaining financial aid from these people can also be considered as foreign sources.
The procedure for registration of foreign agents and their exclusion from it
Provides the drafting of the law unified registration of foreign agents instead of the current four (for media, individuals, NGOs and unincorporated associations).
The list is planned to include information on the grounds for obtaining such status, as well as information about persons associated with a foreign agent.
will work deregistration procedure foreign agents will explain the reasons for such a decision.
If the person has not received assistance from foreign sources in the year preceding the delisting application, this may be the basis. The fact that no aid has come from abroad will be determined during an unscheduled inspection by the Ministry of Justice.
A foreign agent may also be removed from the register if he or she refuses to receive funds and other assistance from foreign sources within three months of being registered.
Also, such reasons may be the termination of the activities of a public association or structure, the liquidation of a legal entity, and the death of a citizen recognized as a foreign agent.
Who are “Affiliates”?
The project proposes to consider the heads, founders, participants and employees of the organization-foreign agents as subordinates. In particular, we can talk about media workers who are known as foreign agents.
The following names will also be on the list. “received property support for the implementation of political activities” from foreign agents.
According to the document notes, affiliates will not be subject to the requirements and restrictions set for foreign representatives.
Deputy Andrey Lugovoy, one of the authors of the bill, had previously admitted that the concept of foreign influence and affiliates could be adjusted in the second reading.
New bans on foreign agents
document, foreign agents teaching activities and educational work with minors, educational activities for them (conducting lectures and seminars), as well as create content for children and young people.
Such people cannot receive a grant and government support.
Persons and organizations recognized as foreign agents, organizing public eventsBeing a member of the PMC and a branch of the Civil Chamber of the Russian Federation, being a member of electoral commissions and sponsoring election campaigns.
they are also forbidden keep an office in public institutions.
Foreign agents will be banned be an investor important strategic initiatives for the defense and security of the country. In particular, we are talking about companies that manufacture weapons and military equipment, work in the field of aeronautics and space science, as well as exploration and mining.
foreign agents again it is necessary to mark It presents public messages (everything except “personal or local” messages), financial statements, and also undergoes an annual accounting audit (for legal entities).
The document was supported by the government
The Cabinet supported the draft law, but made few comments on the law.
The government noted that the document did not define the scope of the information and their dissemination could lead to the assignment of the status of a foreign agent. Without such a statement, restrictions may be imposed on the persons of friendly states interacting with international organizations of which Russia is a member.
State Duma deputy Vasily Piskarev said that the draft law on foreign agents is scheduled to be adopted at the spring session. According to him, there is little time left for the session to end.
The bill was presented to the Duma on April 25. 15 lawmakers and three senators served as co-authors. One of them, Andrey Klimov, explained that one of the aims of the document is to “close additional loopholes for foreign agents.” At the same time, Senator Andrei Klishas said that it is not appropriate to change the law.
“Constantly changing the law in an emerging field, where legal relations are not yet fully developed, these are roads to nowhere,” said the politician.
History of foreign agents in Russia
The registration of media-foreign agents is available since December 2017. Currently, this list contains information on more than 160 media outlets, entities and individuals.
The list was last updated on June 3, featuring journalists Aleksey Pivovarov, Oleg Kashin and Mikhail Sokolov, activists Irina Danilovich, artist Yulia Tsvetkova and political scientist Nikolai Petrov.
Since April 2022, the Department of Justice maintains a separate individual-foreign agent list, which currently includes eight individuals. In particular, it included journalists Yevgeny Kiselev, Matvey Ganapolsky and Vladimir Kara-Murza (small), entrepreneurs Yevgeny Chichvarkin and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and chess player Garry Kasparov.