On 1 September 2023, the Russian Ministry of Justice designated 2021 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov as a “foreign agent”. Muratov received the designation for what the Ministry termed as “creating and disseminating work produced by foreign agents” as well as “using foreign media to promote opinions that are aimed at forming a negative attitude towards Russia’s interior and foreign policy”.
Following his designation as a ‘foreign agent’, Muratov announced that he would contest the decision in court and would be stepping down from his position as editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta pending the court case. Deputy editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov would replace him for this period, the media outlet announced in an email to readers.
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.