Alerts | Censorship and regulation

Valery Potashov and Darya Litvishko designated as “foreign agents”

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On 11 July 2025, Russia’s Ministry of Justice designated journalists Valery Potashov and Darya Litvishko as a “foreign agents”, Russian media reported.
Authorities in Moscow claimed that Potashov and Litvishko had distributed content produced by other “foreign agents”, created content for an “undesirable organization” and published “fake news” about the policies and decisions of Russian authorities. The two journalists were also accused of opposing Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Darya Litvishko is known for presenting news on YouTube channel RZVRT. Valery Potashov is a journalist from Russia’s Karelia region who has been a regular contributor to independent outlet Novaya Gazeta since 2022. Security forces recently conducted a search at his apartment.

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.

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