In St. Petersburg, a publication was fined for mentioning Noize MC without labeling a foreign agent

The Petrogradsky District Court of St. Petersburg fined the founder of the local online publication Event Live for mentioning the rap artist Noize MC (real name Ivan Alekseev, recognized as a foreign agent in the Russian Federation) for the absence of a foreign agent sign in the publication. About it reported United press service of the city courts.

As clarified, we are talking about the material “Roof Fest, which lives on the roof.” The publication’s lawyer stated that the editors fully check the published material for references to foreign agents, but “does not have the knowledge and resources to compare all the nicknames and the people corresponding to them” with the list of foreign agents.

As a result, the founder of the publication, VNITs R-n-S LLC, was fined 40,000 rubles. according to Part 2.1 of Art. 13.15 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (abuse of freedom of mass information), and the editor-in-chief of the publication – 4,000 rubles.

The status of a foreign agent appeared in Russian legislation in 2012 along with changes to the law on NPOs. It has been assigned to the media since 2017, to individuals – since 2020. Foreign agents are required to mark their materials with a large signature (in the case of audio and video – a long screensaver). They also cannot teach in public schools and universities, create materials for minors, receive government support, hold government positions, etc.

Alekseev was added to the register of foreign agents on November 18, 2022.

As Vedomosti previously wrote, the Ministry of Justice proposed indicating the pseudonyms of individuals included in the list in the register of foreign agents. As the lawyers interviewed noted, the proposed amendments are necessary to more transparently identify a particular person’s foreign agent status.