exclusion from the register of foreign agents may become common practice – Kommersant

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy and deputy from United Russia Anton Gorelkin believes that exclusion from the register of foreign agents may become a common practice of the Ministry of Justice. However, in his opinion, those wishing to leave the list will need to prove both the absence of foreign funding and the absence of Western influence on them.

“The case of Nikolai Sobolev, from whom the status of a foreign agent was removed after an inspection, from the category of a “miracle” (as the blogger himself characterized it) may move into the usual practice of the Ministry of Justice. But just the absence of foreign funding is not enough: a person must prove that he himself is no longer subject to foreign influence and does not contribute to the spread of Western narratives among his audience. In general, this is good news for Forgiveness Sunday,” the deputy wrote in his Telegram-channel.

On March 15, the Ministry of Justice excluded blogger Nikolai Sobol and former editor-in-chief of the Oryol News agency Denis Konstantinov from the register of foreign agents. Mr. Sobolev was included in the register in February 2023.

The concept of “foreign agent” was introduced into Russian law in 2012 and applied to non-profit organizations. In 2017, it began to be applied to the media, from 2019 – to individuals disseminating information from foreign agents, and in 2020 – to any persons conducting political activities in favor of a foreign state.

In 2022, a law was passed generalizing the status of a foreign agent. According to it, any person who is engaged in “political activity,” disseminating information “for an unlimited circle of people,” “collecting information” about the military activities of the Russian Federation and at the same time is under “foreign influence” can be recognized as a foreign agent.

Alexandra Goroshilova