On 8 August 2025, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated journalist Elena Rykovtseva as a “foreign agent”, Russian independent media reported.
Russia claimed that Rykovtseva produced “fake news” on decisions and policies by Russian authorities as well as “fake news” aiming to “create a negative image of the Russian army”. She was also accused of opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and of distributing content produced by “undesirable (banned) organizations”. Rykovtseva is known as a journalist working for the Russian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a Prague-based independent media corporation financed by the United States.
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.