On 12 April 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated three more journalists as “foreign agents” due to their publications on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, local media reported. Asya Kazantseva, Ilya Barabanov and Ivan Filippov were accused of opposing the war in Ukraine, with Filippov additionally accused of disseminating what Russian authorities consider to be “fake news” about the war, among other “accusations”.
A scientific journalist, Kazantseva was recently forced to leave Russia after becoming the target of a campaign of online harassment launched by a Russian MP. Barabanov is a journalist with the Russian service of the BBC. He previously worked at newspaper Kommersant and also as the deputy editor-in-chief of Russian outlet The New Times. Filippov previously published for website Newsru.com and was recently known for managing a Telegram channel providing an overview of publications by pro-Kremlin military bloggers. All three journalists no longer live in Russia.
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.
UPDATE: On 5 August 2024, a court in Moscow refused to cancel the decision labeling Barabanov as a “foreign agent”, likely following a request to do so filed by the journalist, Russian independent media reported.