Russian foreign agent law

[2][3] While FARA applies mainly to professional lobbyists and political consultants working for foreign governments, the Russian legislation affects a broad range of civil society actors including NGOs, media organizations, journalists, and private individuals.

[5] The designation carries heavy administrative burdens including mandatory audits, detailed reporting requirements, and obligatory labeling of all publications with a disclaimer about "foreign agent" status.

[6] Organizations and individuals designated as "foreign agents" face significant restrictions on their activities and risk substantial fines or criminal prosecution for non-compliance.

481-FZ, enacted on 30 December 2020, expanded the "foreign-agent" designation to unregistered public associations involved in "political activities" and receiving funds from foreign sources.

The law also applied to individuals, regardless of nationality, who engage in political activity or collect information about Russia’s military capabilities and receive foreign funding.

[15] The Ministry of Justice maintains a public register of "foreign agents", which includes personal details such as full names, pseudonyms, taxpayer identification numbers, and grounds for designation.

[15] "Foreign agents" are barred from investing in or operating critical information infrastructure, providing environmental expert opinions, and advertising in "foreign-agent" media organisations.

[25] These raids are often joined by journalists from NTV, which has aired programs which accuse human rights and opposition activists of pushing the interests of the United States.

[26][27][28] In June 2017, head of the human rights NGO "Union of Women of Don" Valentina Cherevatenko was formally charged with "malicious evasion" of legal requirements set out in the law, making it the first criminal proceedings initiated for non-compliance.

Notable persons include: politicians Leonid Volkov, Garry Kasparov, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, journalists Roman Dobrokhotov, Karen Shainyan [ru], Yelizaveta Osetinskaya, Alexander Nevzorov, Alexei Venediktov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, historian Yevgeni Ponasenkov, satirist Viktor Shenderovich, YouTube-blogger Yury Dud.

[41] By end of April 2022 a series of new amendments to the Foreign Agents Law was offered by a group of State Duma deputies and was scheduled for submission in June of the same year.

The amended law prohibits any educational public activity before audiences younger than 18 years, and allows the Ministry of Justice to block websites without court decision.

[102] In 2015, the science and education supporting fund Dynasty Foundation run by Dmitry Zimin, founder of Vympelcom, closed after being forced to label itself as a "foreign agent".

This decision of the Ministry of Justice has sparked a lot of criticism as "Dynasty" was not involved in politics and fully focused on national education in Russia.

After mass protests of the academic community against this discrimination Zimin attempted appeals and when they remained unsuccessful, he decided to close the fund and left Russia.

In November 2012 the Board of the Center of TI-R issued a statement declaring the law unconstitutional, claiming it impairs their rights to organize and participate in governance.

"[108] Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy at the European Union, expressed concern about the law and resulting raids, stating that "The inspections and searches launched against the Russian NGO community and conducted on vague legal grounds are worrisome since they seem to be aimed at further undermining civil society in the country.

[109] German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle declared the moves against the nonprofits unacceptable and warned through a spokesperson that they could "have a sustained effect on bilateral relations.

"[110] The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in its "Helsinki Declaration" from July 2015 called upon Russia to "end its attempts to stigmatize and discredit civil society groups by labeling them foreign agents".

The Venice Commission recommends that the Russian authorities abandon the special regime of registration, reporting, and public disclosure requirements for associations, media outlets and individuals receiving "foreign support", including the related administrative and criminal sanctions.

Criminal sanctions, including especially compulsory labour and the deprivation of liberty, should not be applied to breaches of registration, reporting and public disclosure requirements for "foreign agents", even under the narrow definition of that designation.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation Mariana Katzarova criticized the new law, which entered into force on 1 December 2022, in her report of 15 September 2023.

[116] The case involved 73 Russian organisations that were labelled as "foreign agents" by the authorities, including environmental groups, human rights defenders, research centres, and charitable foundations.

The Court ruled that Russia had failed to justify the necessity of such measures and concluded that the law's true purpose appeared to be silencing independent civil society voices rather than increasing transparency, as claimed by the authorities.

[7] The case involved applications from over a hundred organisations and individuals designated as "foreign agents" under increasingly restrictive laws introduced between 2017 and 2022.

The stigmatizing effect of the "foreign agent" label intensified over time, with public opinion polls indicating that the designation was increasingly associated with "traitors" and "enemies of the people".

The Court noted that the designation was misleading as it suggested foreign control without evidence, contrasting with similar laws in other countries that require proof of agency relationships.

Individuals labelled as "foreign agents" were subjected to significant privacy intrusions, including the mandatory publication of personal data and detailed financial reporting requirements.

The Court concluded that Russia's "foreign agents" framework bore "hallmarks of a totalitarian regime" by fostering an atmosphere of suspicion toward independent voices and civil society.

Rather than pursuing its stated aim of transparency, the legislation was found to undermine the foundations of democracy by stigmatising and silencing independent voices in public debate.