Foreign agents are removed from organs – Newspaper Kommersant No. 216 (7417) dated 11/22/2022

The State Duma Security Committee on Monday approved amendments to the draft law, developed in pursuance of the basic law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence.” By the second reading, it was decided to add new prohibitions for persons recognized as foreign agents to the document: they will not be able to serve in law enforcement agencies, as well as in officer positions in the armed forces. Also, the Duma is waiting for the second reading of the amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses, which increase the responsibility of foreign agents for violating their duties.

The law on control over the activities of foreign agents, adopted by the Duma at the end of June, will come into force on December 1, 2022. On July 5, at the end of the spring session, the lower house approved in the first reading a “satellite bill”, which introduces corresponding amendments to 16 federal laws. Its authors, in particular, proposed to ban foreign agents from organizing rallies, participating in educational activities and public procurement, being members of election commissions, donating money to parties, keeping simplified accounting, etc.

In addition, the deputies decided that the protection of Russia from foreign influence implies “including a ban on entering the civil service and the presence of foreign agents in it.”

Recallthat the same amendments significantly expanded the list of places where it is impossible to hold mass events, not only for foreign agents, but also for any Russians. For example, it included railway stations, airports, marinas, educational and medical organizations, buildings of social protection authorities, children’s and sports grounds, territories of public authorities, religious buildings and structures, as well as “other places” if the ban is “conditioned” by historical , cultural or “other objective features of the subject of the Russian Federation”.

By the second reading, the number of laws being amended has grown to 40.

True, most of the amendments recommended by the committee for adoption are of a technical nature: the phrase “performing the function of foreign agents” is everywhere replaced by the phrase “foreign agents.”

But there are also semantic changes. Thus, according to the amendments to the law “On the Mass Media”, in the imprint of the media, “participant (founder)” of which is a foreign agent, it will be necessary to indicate that it was created by a foreign agent. A direct ban is also introduced for foreign agents to work in the FSB, police, customs and intelligence agencies, and the Federal Penitentiary Service. As Anatoly Vyborny (United Russia), deputy chairman of the security committee, explained to Kommersant, foreign agents will not be able to hold officer positions in the armed forces, because they are equated with civil service. “As for conscription, how can citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign agents, be drafted into the armed forces,” the deputy added.

We also note that the Duma is awaiting the second reading of amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses, which will toughen punishment for foreign agents for failure to fulfill their legal obligations. According to these drafts, approved in the first reading on October 19, for the first violation of the Code of Administrative Offenses, a fine of 2,000 to 1 million rubles is envisaged, and “malicious evasion” of foreign agents from fulfilling their duties can already result in criminal punishment up to two years in prison. According to a Kommersant source in the Duma, the measures of responsibility proposed in the version of the first reading may be strengthened by the second reading.

Ksenia Veretennikova