On 29 September 2023, a court in Moscow registered a case against journalist Arkady Babchenko, who faced a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles on grounds of not adding disclaimers on his “foreign agent” status to his social media publications. Babchenko was designated as a “foreign agent” in April this year, with authorities claiming he had “collected funds in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and “distributed false information about decisions made by public authorities and their policies”. According to Russian legislation, he is since obliged to inform on his “foreign agent” status in his publications.
Babchenko previously worked as a military correspondent for Moskovsky Komsomolets, a Russian newspaper, covering the wars in Chechnya at the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s. He then collaborated with Novaya Gazeta, various Russian TV channels and other media. He also covered the 2014 Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine. In 2017, Babchenko left Russia citing security concerns. In 2018, the Security Service of Ukraine staged the murder of the journalist, allegedly in order to identify those who ordered an actual attempt on his life. Babchenko currently lives outside 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.