On 13 February 2026, Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated website Agentura.ru as well as Russian independent journalists Galina Sidorova, Marina Okhrimovskaya and Marina Latsinskaya, as “foreign agents”, Russian media reported. Authorities handed the designations to all four on broadly similar grounds: opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, disseminating materials created by “undesirable organizations” and other “foreign agents”, as well as publishing “false information” about Russian authorities. Agentura.ru is a website founded by journalists Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan which reports on issues related to Russia’s secret services. Galina Sidorova and Marina Okhrimovskaya are exiled journalists who publish for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, while Maria Latsinskaya, who also lives in exile, publishes for a range of outlets including Novaya Gazeta Europe.
Initially adopted in 2012, Russia’s law on foreign agents has been revised several times over the past decade to include an ever-wider range of potential targets for state-sponsored discrimination. Currently, any organization, media or private individual can be designated as such simply by being declared to be “under foreign influence” by the Russian Ministry of Justice or because of receiving funds of any amount from abroad (or from an entity itself receiving foreign funds). “Foreign agents” are barred from receiving state financing, teaching at state universities, working with minors and providing expertise on environmental issues, among multiple other restrictions.