On 1o April 2026, Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated RFE/RL journalist Ivan Tolstoy as a “foreign agent”. Authorities claimed that he spread “fake news ” about the decisions of the Russian government, opposed Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and participated in the creation and dissemination of content created by other “foreign agents” as well as “undesirable organizations”.
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.