On 13 March 2024, a court in Moscow registered fining protocols targeting several public figures who did not add disclaimers on their “foreign agent” status to their publications. Two of the protocols were for journalists Roman Badanin and Ekaterina Gordeeva. In addition, journalist Sonya Groysman received a letter from Roskomnadzor on plans to fine her for not adding a “foreign agent” label to a recent publication. If found guilty, each of the journalists risks a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles. While Badanin and Groysman received the designation in 2021, Gordeeva was declared a “foreign agent” in September 2022 and accused of receiving financing from 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.