On 14 February 2025, Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated journalists Sergey Auslender and Nikita Parmenov as “foreign agents”, Russian media reported.
Both journalists were accused of republishing content by other “foreign agents”, disseminating “fake news” about the decisions of Russian authorities and creating a “negative image of the Russian army”. Auslender was additionally accused of “working for a foreign news outlet”, while Parmenov was accused of opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Auslender is known as a journalist focusing on military topics, focusing on the situation in Israel, Ukraine and Russia. Parmenov reports on the situation in Russia’s Belgorod region, which lies on the border with Ukraine near Kharkiv, and is the editor-in-chief of local news outlet Pepel.
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.