On 17 August 2023, a court in Moscow registered a case against former TV Rain journalist Vladimir Romensky, who was accused of not adding a disclaimer on his “foreign agent” status in his publications. A hearing in Romensky’s case was scheduled for September 25. If found guilty, he faces a fine of up to 50 thousand rubles.
The journalist was designated as a “foreign agent” in October 2022, after having left Russia similarly to other independent Russian journalists following the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In December, he left TV Rain in protest against the firing of journalist Alexey Korostelev, who was dismissed following accusations by authorities in Latvia (where the media outlet was based at the time) regarding the station’s coverage of the war in 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.