On 25 October 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated news Telegram channel Astra as a “foreign agent”, Russian media reported. The news channel, which has over 250 thousand subscribers, was accused of disseminating “false information” on Russian authorities and their actions and attempting to “create a negative image of the Russian army”. Astra was also accused of opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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 also barred from receiving state financing, teaching at state universities, working with minors and providing expertise on environmental issues, among other restrictions.