The Ministry of Justice united foreign agents – Picture of the Day – Kommersant

On December 1, the day the new law on foreign agents comes into force, the Ministry of Justice submitted a unified register of information about NGOs, the media, citizens and associations with the corresponding status. It contains almost 500 positions – even those who were previously excluded from the four relevant registries appear here. For certain foreign agents, the Ministry of Justice indicates the OGRN, TIN and SNILS, but such information is not provided on most organizations and persons. Kommersant’s source in the Ministry of Justice explains that until December 1, the department did not have the right to request such information from the tax authorities, but promises to supplement the register with the missing data.

The law “On Control over the Activities of Persons Under Foreign Influence”, which came into force on December 1, not only consolidated all regulations relating to the activities of foreign agents, but also established a common register for citizens, NGOs and the media with the status of “foreign agent”. Law was accepted in June, its authors assured that the document would help in “providing an immediate response to the internationally wrongful acts of unfriendly countries”, and also specified the concepts of “foreign agent”, “foreign sources”, “foreign influence” and “political activity”.

The Ministry of Justice recalled that the presented register unites four previously existing registers of foreign agents: non-profit organizations, media, unregistered public associations and individuals. “The grounds on which persons are included in the registers are similar and entail almost the same consequences,” the ministry told Kommersant. “Given that the law provides for a number of prohibitions for foreign agents, which may include individuals, data will be published, allowing to unmistakably identify such persons – date of birth, TIN, SNILS.

There are 493 positions in the new register. The document is posted on the website of the Ministry of Justice in the format pdf. To get acquainted with it, the file will have to be downloaded to a computer or phone. For some NGOs or mass media, the OGRN, TIN and SNILS are indicated, in most cases this information is not available. In addition, the register includes organizations and people that have already been excluded from the register, as evidenced by the corresponding mark.

• The numbering in the register is built according to the date of inclusion of foreign agents, a source in the Ministry of Justice told Kommersant.
• The source noted that “the serial number will remain” for a person or organization even after being excluded from the general register, and a corresponding mark will appear in the register itself.

“As of December 1, a number of information in the register will be missing, for example, TIN and SNILS numbers, since they can be requested from the tax service or other structures only after the law enters into force,” Kommersant’s interlocutor emphasized. The information will “be entered into the register” as it becomes available, the source assured.

Recall that the register of NPO-foreign agents was the first to appear after a wave of opposition protests in 2012. The authors of the draft law NGOs-foreign agents stated that they were seeking “financial transparency” of charitable foundations and human rights organizations and therefore “provided” two conditions for the recognition of an NPO as a foreign agent: conducting “political activities” and simultaneously receiving “foreign funding”. They argued that both this rule and the term itself were copied from American law. In response, human rights activists pointed out that in the United States such a law applies to professional lobbyists, and called the Russian norm “discriminatory and stigmatizing”, since the status of a foreign agent “scares away citizens.”

The term “political activity” was not clarified and legally fixed until 2022, therefore it was the subject of litigation with each new recognition of an NPO as a foreign agent.

As a rule, lawyers in courts pointed out that the vagueness of the term “political activity” entailed not only the assignment of the status of “foreign agent”, but also large fines for NGOs. The law included an exception for environmental, medical, scientific and similar activities, but the relevant NGOs also joined the ranks of foreign agents. In 2013, the first complaint was filed with the ECHR about the recognition of the ecological organization Ecodefense as a foreign agent, then 72 more similar complaints from those recognized as foreign agents (including from the Committee against Torture, the Civic Assistance Committee, which helps refugees, the movement “Voice”, defending voting rights, the “Soldiers’ Mothers” movement and the now liquidated “Memorial”).

In 2022, the ECtHR upheld the complaint, acknowledging that the law on foreign agents “impedes the development of civil society” and “is not predictable”, and the practice of its application is “selective”. The court awarded compensation to the NCO applicants for a total of €1.1 million, despite the fact that 36 of them had already been forced to close at that time. In total, over ten years, more than 200 organizations have been included in the register of NPO-foreign agents, as of November 30, 2022, 73 positions remained in it.

Since 2017, the Ministry of Justice also began to maintain a register media-foreign agents, nine revisions were made in the first year. In 2018, the register was not replenished; in 2019, only one media was entered there, seven more were included in 2020. In 2021, the register included not only editorial offices, but also journalists, human rights activists, politicians and lawyers – in total, the list was replenished with 94 positions (including the popular publications Meduza, Important Stories, VTimes, The Insider, TV channel “Rain”). Another 90 positions were added in 11 months of 2022, personalities began to be included in the registers more and more often, including the former editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy Alexei Venediktov, oppositionist Ilya Yashin, and journalist Alexander Nevzorov.

Since February 2021, two more registries of foreign agents have been launched – for unregistered public associations and for individuals. In the first of them, by November 30, there were 11 positions; opened his human rights project “OVD-Info” and the movement “Voice” (which worked after being recognized as an NGO-foreign agent and liquidated without the formation of a legal entity). There are 62 positions in the register of individuals-foreign agents. Among others, journalists Alexander Plyushchev and Anna Mongait, lawyer Mikhail Benyash, and politician Yevgeny Roizman were included in the register.

In June 2022, State Duma deputies announced their intention to significantly change the legislation on foreign agents – to prohibit them from holding protests, participating in educational activities and public procurement, being members of election commissions, donating money to political parties, and keeping simplified accounting records. On June 30, the law was adopted, and today, on December 1, it came into force.

In addition to the general registry, it contains a number of other innovations.

• In particular, the condition of “foreign funding” that was previously obligatory for recognition as a foreign agent is no longer relevant: the Ministry of Justice can declare that a person, association, mass media or NPO is “under foreign influence”.
• “Political activity” is now any debate and speeches on the topic of domestic or foreign policy of the Russian Federation, public appeals to authorities, “expression of opinion” on decisions and actions of authorities, participation in rallies or their organization, as well as election observation, election campaigning and the very participation in elections at any level.
• Foreign agents themselves should henceforth mark not only their message on social networks or on websites (on the air), but also mark their appeals to authorities, educational “and other” organizations.
• The marking, which previously contained the wording “This message (material) was created and (or) distributed …”, has also changed. From December 1, it sounds like this: “Materials (information) [произведены, распространены и (или) направлены] foreign agent [ФИО/организация] or relate to the activities of a foreign agent [ФИО/организация]”.
• It is noteworthy that the media that mention or quote foreign agents can no longer indicate the short “recognized as a foreign agent”, it is required to write in full – “foreign agent”, but “recognized” or “included in the register” remains at the discretion of the editors.

Foreign agents from now on forbidden:

• receive government support (for example, grants),
• organize public events (not only rallies, but any public actions, not necessarily protests – even flash mobs in honor of Mother’s Day or May 9),
• carry out educational activities (including lectures and seminars),
• invest in election campaigns and join election commissions,
• conduct environmental or anti-corruption expertise,
• and legal entities-foreign agents also cannot use the simplified taxation system.

In addition, citizens and organizations with the status of “foreign agent” cannot be members of advisory and advisory bodies (for example, public councils under government agencies) and have access to state secrets.

The Ministry of Justice recalls that “the new law provides for the possibility of exiting the register in a simplified manner for individuals included in the register for the first time.”

The decision on exclusion will be made by the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation or his deputy “in a shortened time based on the application of such a person,” the department explains. They assure that “cases of labeling everyday content on social networks are excluded,” and only messages related to the “professional activity” of a person or organization should be labeled. A number of lawyers and human rights activists, however, have already said that the Ministry of Justice itself decides what to consider as the professional activity of a “foreign agent”.

We also note that on November 22, the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti-Corruption presented 56 pages of amendments that again change the law on foreign agents. In particular, it is proposed to make any information from individuals or organizations with the status of “foreign agent” “prohibited for dissemination among minors” and to deprive foreign agents of bank cards and accounts (block them) if the prosecutor’s office or the Ministry of Justice see violations of the law on foreign agents by holders of this status. It is suggested that the media be required to indicate that “the material was created by a foreign agent,” even if the media itself is not recognized as such, but a journalist with this status works in it.

Maria Starikova