Russia’s “Foreign Agent” law targets journalists, activists, and even ordinary citizensExBulletin

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of Insider, walks surrounded by police and journalists, in Moscow on Wednesday. Police raided his home after the investigative news organization was designated as a “foreign agent”. Last week, it became the 16th media outlet to be added to the Russian Justice Ministry’s list of foreign agents.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

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Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

Roman Dobrokhotov, editor-in-chief of Insider, walks surrounded by police and journalists, in Moscow on Wednesday. Police raided his home after the investigative news organization was designated as a “foreign agent”. Last week, it became the 16th media outlet to be added to the Russian Justice Ministry’s list of foreign agents.

Alexander Zemlianichenko / AP

MOSKW Darya Apakhonchich never considered herself a foreign agent.

She taught Russian to refugees in her hometown of St. Petersburg, and participated in street performances against militarism and violence against women. The activism of the Apakhonchich art group was eccentric and local, and their performances usually received several hundred views on to YouTube.

“It is not a crime to learn Russian as a foreign language and get paid for it,” says Apakhonchich. “And it is not a crime to get involved in activism and go to demonstrations, especially given the Russian constitution.”

But Russian authorities have treated him as if he were a criminal.

In December, the 36-year-old mother of two revealed that the Ministry of Justice had involved her a list of “foreign media agents”, in addition to the media, including US Government-funded Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. Apakhonchich’s works were being paid for by organizations such as the French College at St. Petersburg State University and posted her political views on social media.

A month after finding herself on the list, says Apakhonchich, police saw her door early one Sunday morning, confiscated her family’s electronics and spent seven hours searching their apartment for “extremist” material.

A self-portrait of Darya Apakhonchich, with the writing on her face and a picture of a woman saying: “Not just a body, but a person, person, person, person, person.” She took the photo in support of Russian artist and LGBTQ activist Yulia Tsvetkova, who faces criminal charges of spreading pornography through her art.

Darya Apakhonchich

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Darya Apakhonchich

A self-portrait of Darya Apakhonchich, with the writing on her face and a picture of a woman saying: “Not just a body, but a person, person, person, person, person.” She took the photo in support of Russian artist and LGBTQ activist Yulia Tsvetkova, who faces criminal charges of spreading pornography through her art.

Darya Apakhonchich

Russia’s 2012 law on foreign agents initially singled out non-governmental organizations receiving foreign grants. E legislation has since changed target not only media organizations, but also individual journalists, YouTube bloggers and virtually anyone else who takes money from abroad and expresses political opinion.

Once designated, they are required to label everything they publish, even social media posts, as the work of a foreign agent, and submit quarterly financial reports to the Ministry of Justice. Bookkeeping errors and non-compliance can result in fines and even imprisonment.

Late last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed new legislation which extended the legal definition of who could be considered a foreign agent. Since December, the Ministry of Justice has labeled more than a dozen Russian citizens, including Apakhonchich and Lev Ponomaryov, a human rights activist for more than 30 years.

Following the imprisonment of opposition leader Alexei Navalny earlier this year, the Kremlin has used the law on foreign agents to prosecute journalists and news organizations that are critical of the government. Last week, the investigative news site Insider It `s done 16th media to be added to the list of foreign agents of the Ministry of Justice.

VTimes, an independent business news site, closed in June, saying his appointment as a foreign agent had ruined his business model. Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty faces more than $ 3 million in fines for refusing to label its content as produced by a “foreign agent”.

Jellyfish, a well-known independent news site, has struggled after being labeled as a foreign agent and appearing on the Justice Ministry blacklist in April. In 2014, Russian dissident journalists set up a site in neighboring Latvia to protect it from Kremlin pressure. Jellyfish later branched out into podcasts and a English version.

“It’s harder to talk to people now because a lot of people who would gladly talk to us now are wary of associating with a ‘foreign agent,’ which is a big hurdle,” says Alexey Kovalyov. Jellyfishinvestigation editor.

Once the determination was returned Jellyfish in a “toxic brand,” says Kovalyov, the advertisers left. A fundraising effort has brought in donations from 96,000 contributors, keeping the site afloat for at least a few more months.

“What happens after that, no one really knows, because we do not know how stable this model of crowdfunding is,” says Kovalyov.

The Kremlin denies that foreign agent legislation is censorship, and Putin often compares it to US law on foreign agents. On paper, the laws may be similar, but human rights groups say Russian authorities use the term “foreign agent” as a way to quell dissent.

“Since 2012, the Russian government has used the ‘foreign agents’ law to demonize independent groups that accept foreign funding and conduct public advocacy, especially those that in any way challenge government policies and actions,” he said. Tha Human Rights Watch in November. “In Russia, the term ‘foreign agent’ has a strong negative connotation, similar to ‘traitor.'”

When Russian law came into force a Kremlin human rights council meeting in December, Recalls Putin the case of Maria Butina, a Russian citizen who spent more than a year in US custody after being charged with acting as an unregistered foreign agent. Putin told the council that it was necessary for Russia to appoint individuals as foreign agents because “some people are just inventing new ways to get money from abroad for their activities.”

Putin told NBC News in June that many “so-called civil society” organizations are funded and receive training from abroad. “To prevent this kind of interference in our internal affairs, we make relevant decisions and adopt relevant laws,” he said.

For the Russian authorities, Putin’s tough stance is a green light to hit civil society.

“The way they perceive civil society is, ‘The one who pays for the pipeline calls the melody,'” he says. Maxim Trudolyubov, a contributing editor at Jellyfish and a senior adviser to the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC “They decided for the public that the reason for everything that goes wrong comes from the West, from outside.”

Trudolyubov says Putin must make threats to keep power in check. But the “totalitarian instinct” behind the Kremlin’s law of foreign agents, he says, clashes with the complex and diverse society Russia has become.

“Putin himself is part of a generation that remembers the Soviet Union very well and he wants to be in control,” Trudolyubov said. “He is very nervous when he sees that he can not achieve that kind of control and that there are parts of society that reject him.”

Apakhonchich, activist and teacher, represents a new generation of Russians. After a police raid on her home, she moved with her children to neighboring Georgia for family safety. She says her designation as a foreign media agent was created to send a signal.

“I believe I was chosen to intimidate people who, like me, cooperate with foreign organizations,” she says.

In May, a St. Petersburg court upheld its blacklist. But Apakhonchich refuses to remain silent.

“Maybe I could have come back to be a mother,” she says. “But I understand that people still face oppression even if they do not say anything, do not give interviews and I hope that by sitting quietly, everything will be fine.”