On 24 January 2025, Russia’s Ministry of Justice added new names to country’s list of “foreign agents”, Russian media reported. These included three media workers: BBC Russian correspondent Olga Ivshina, as well as Ukrainian journalists Oleksiy Prodayvod and Oryna Fedorovykh. The Ukrainian journalists work for Current Time, an online TV channel headquartered in Prague which broadcasts in Russian.
Russian authorities accused all three media workers of opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. They were also said to have reposted content produced by other “foreign agents” and “spread fake news about decisions and policies of Russian authorities”.
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.