The lawyer appreciated Galkin’s claim to remove the status of a foreign agent: “Fines are already threatening”

According to the lawyer, Pugacheva’s husband can be punished for his social networks

Maxim Galkin, recognized in Russia as a foreign agent, filed a lawsuit with the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow demanding that this status be removed from him. Lawyer of the bureau Axilium Alexander Chernov commented on the prospects of the upcoming process.

The concept of “foreign agent” was introduced in the Federal Law of July 14, 2022 N 255-FZ “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence”. It is believed that people who have received this status are under some kind of foreign influence and carry out, first of all, political activities, as well as activities in the field of culture, art, if the relevant activity is contrary to the national interests of the Russian Federation. Now the register of foreign agents maintained by the Ministry of Justice includes 598 organizations and individuals,

“The sources of foreign funding for Galkin’s activities can be considered income from his concert activities abroad, especially in countries unfriendly to Russia,” the lawyer argues. – The status of a foreign agent imposes a number of obligations and restrictions on Maxim Galkin, so by virtue of the Law, the latter is obliged to report the presence of this status when carrying out public activities, as well as when applying to state bodies and organizations. What he does not do on social networks, for which he can already be fined.

In addition, according to Chernov, Maxim Galkin, being a foreign agent, is obliged to submit to the authorized body a report on his activities, on foreign sources, the amount of money and other property received from these sources, including bank accounts used to carry out activities. foreign agent, the purposes and extent of their intended distribution of any assistance received from foreign sources; information on the submission of an audit report to the state information resource of financial statements, and other information.

Responsibility for failure to comply with these requirements is provided for both administrative (for untimely submitted reports or lack of notes, for citizens – 30-50 thousand rubles), and criminal, provided for in Art. 330.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Malicious evasion of the performance of duties stipulated by the legislation of the Russian Federation in connection with the recognition of a person performing the functions of a foreign agent”, which provides for punishment from a fine of 300 thousand rubles to imprisonment for up to two years.

Predicting the prospects for litigation on Galkin’s lawsuit to exclude foreign agents from the register, it can be assumed that if the Ministry of Justice, as the defendant, presents evidence of Galkin’s activities that are contrary to the national interests of Russia, as well as evidence of receiving funding from foreign sources, which are full of Internet resources, the court is likely to dismiss the claim. At the same time, the status of a foreign agent is not a sentence, and the Law provides for the possibility of canceling this status.

“In this case, Maxim must stop the activity that served as the basis for his inclusion in the register, stop receiving funds from foreign sources and has the right to file an application with the authorized body to exclude him from the register. The only question is whether Galkin decides to stop the activities that served as the basis for entering him into the register of foreign agents. The question is rhetorical.”

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