On 26 January 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated journalist Maksim Trudoliubov as well as Vot Tak, a Russian-language news project broadcast by Poland-based Belsat TV, as “foreign agents”.
Trudoliubov, who is the Ideas section editor at Meduza, Russia’s largest independent online media outlet, was accused of working with organizations designated as “undesirable” in Russia (Meduza was designated as such in January 2023), opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, disseminating publications by other “foreign agents”, as well as of “creating a negative image” of Russia and of its army.
Vot Tak was accused of disseminating “false information” about Russian authorities and decisions made by them, opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, disseminating publications by other “foreign agents”, as well as of being founded by a foreign media company.
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.