On 8 September 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated journalist Mumin Shakirov as a “foreign agent”, on the grounds that he opposed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and allegedly “carried out activities, aimed at creating anti-Russian opinions”. Shakirov began his career in cinema, before turning to journalism in the 1990s, reporting on wars in Tajikistan, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Abkhazia and the former Yugoslavia. He currently works as an anchor at the Russian service of Prague-based media outlet RFE/RL.

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.