Deputies discussed state control over the activities of foreign agents

The State Duma Commission on Combating Foreign Interference on Thursday discussed issues of state control over the activities of foreign agents. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Justice, Roskomnadzor and Rosfinmonitoring. Deputy Minister of Justice Oleg Sviridenko, in particular, said that his department had begun checking the Yeltsin Center for grounds for recognizing it as a foreign agent, and urged “not to be embarrassed” about introducing new changes to the profile law in response to the actions of the “collective West”.

The commission to investigate the facts of interference of foreign states in the affairs of Russia met on June 15 to discuss the annual report of the Ministry of Justice on the activities of foreign agents (“Kommersant” spoke in detail about him on May 17). Chairman of the commission Vasily Piskarev (United Russia), opening the meeting, said that in the six months since the law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence” came into force, deputies had received numerous complaints about ignoring legislative restrictions by foreign agents. And the answer to this was initiatives introducing liability for persons helping foreign agents to circumvent the bans (the Duma plans to consider them in the first reading on June 20).

Deputy Minister of Justice Oleg Sviridenko informed the deputies that in 2022, 188 subjects were included in the register of foreign agents against 108 in 2021. In total, as of December 31, 2022, this list contained information about 515 organizations and individuals, of which 347 “were active,” the official said. Among them are 63 non-profit organizations, 35 Russian legal entities, 14 public associations operating without creating a legal entity, 12 foreign legal entities, 8 foreign structures without a legal entity, 2 “other associations of persons” and 213 individuals. Among those who replenished the register in 2022 are 11 NGOs and 8 unregistered public associations. Three of them, according to Mr. Sviridenko, opposed the implementation of the NMD and “aimed their actions” at raising money for military assistance to Ukraine. He also noted the attempts of foreign agents “to influence the authorities in order to change laws and calls for participation in protest actions.”

According to the Ministry of Justice, in 2022, the accounts of 35 Russian NGOs included in the register received about 700 million rubles “from Western sponsors” – this is 34% less than in 2021, when NGOs-foreign agents received 1 billion rubles.

“In our legislation, in order not to create the impression that it is so oppressive, harsh, unpredictable, there is a way to get out of the status of a foreign agent,” recalled the deputy minister.

Thus, last year, the Ministry of Justice considered a total of 25 applications for exclusion from the register, and positive decisions were made in relation to 9 individuals and 1 legal entity, and 4 applicants were refused “due to the submission of false information about the termination of their activities as a foreign agent “. 18 NCOs were also excluded from the register due to their liquidation. There is still an opportunity to challenge the status of a foreign agent in court, but none of the 118 such claims in 2022 was satisfied.

On the whole, “thanks to joint efforts with the deputy corps, it was possible to significantly reduce the destructive effect that the destructive forces and their foreign sponsors were counting on,” Oleg Sviridenko reported. And he gave a specific example of the effective work of the Ministry of Justice: the department “turned its gaze” to the violation of the law in the mayor’s office of Yekaterinburg, where among the bas-reliefs of former mayors hung out image of foreign agent Yevgeny Roizman without any markings. Through the efforts of the Ministry of Justice, the bas-relief was equipped with a corresponding sign.

The deputy head of Roskomnadzor, Vadim Subbotin, reported on the contribution of his department to the fight against foreign agents, who, since the beginning of the SVO, “have begun to fully fulfill the tasks of their foreign sponsors.” In this regard, in 2022, Roskomnadzor drew up 156 protocols against foreign agents (against 58 in 2021), and the courts imposed fines for 228.6 million rubles. (against 3.8 million a year earlier).

At the same time, only 48 foreign agents “comply with all the requirements for labeling materials,” while for the rest, the agency “carries out planned systematic work,” Mr. Subbotin added.

Then the officials answered the deputies’ questions. Andrei Alshevsky (ER) asked the Ministry of Justice to check the Yeltsin Center for grounds for recognizing him as a foreign agent. Oleg Sviridenko replied that such a check had begun. Maria Butina (ER) asked if the accounts of foreign agents were blocked, because without this measure, “the status of a foreign agent looks like a kind of reward for them.” She was also worried about the question of what to do with films, music and other works created with the participation of foreign agents before the adoption of the relevant law. Mr. Sviridenko did not give a specific answer to the second question, and Vasily Piskarev answered for him regarding the blocking of accounts, recalling that this issue is regulated by the law on bailiffs (meaning cases when foreign agents do not pay fines). In addition, the head of the commission suggested calling representatives of this department to its meeting to tell them if there are any problems with the implementation of the requirements of the law.

Already after the meeting, Oleg Sviridenko told reporters that the legislation on foreign agents would be supplemented, and “there is no need to be ashamed of this.” The “collective West” is improving its methods of influencing the internal affairs of Russia, which means that legislators need to adequately respond to this, the official explained.

Ksenia Veretennikova