Russian Journalists are ‘Foreign Agents’ Under New Law

A new law signed by President Putin will label many journalists and media organizations as “foreign agents.” (Kremlin)

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on December 2 that will label many journalists and other media creators in the country “foreign agents.” Starting this week, any individual in the media—including journalists, bloggers, and social media influencers—that receives funding from outside Russia will be classified as foreign agents in the eyes of the Russian government.

According to the Moscow Times, a foreign agent is an individual, Russian or foreign-born, who “distributes foreign media” or “distributes information on the internet and receives money from foreign sources.” In the past, this law only applied to a select group of organizations. Now, it will apply to individuals.

In the past, organizations in Russia that have been labeled “foreign agents”—usually NGOs, nonprofits, or advocacy groups—have been prohibited from participating in political activities, forced to comply with government audits, and made to disclose their “foreignness” in all communications. Essentially, the label creates bureaucratic obstacles for organizations that may be extremely difficult to overcome.

Under the new law, employees of human rights groups like Memorial and journalists from outside news sources like Radio Free Liberty/Radio Europe and Voice of America will fall under the category of foreign agents. The law, according to Human Rights Watch, will hurt Russian journalists in a country where censorship is already a problem. The label is “a strong tool to silence opposition voices.”

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, 26 journalists have been killed during Putin’s administration thus far. Freedom House says that in Russia there have been frequent “attacks, threats, censorship, arrests, and prison sentences against both journalists and ordinary citizens who had posted or shared politically sensitive information online.” The organization rates Russia as “not free” when it comes to press freedom.

Whether an entity is labeled as a foreign agent is completely up to the discretion of Russia’s Justice and Foreign Ministries. According to Russian think tank associate Andrei Kolesnikov, the new law “was made to selectively punish those who someone wants to punish somehow.” In other words, the law gives discretion to the government on who they choose to punish.

Opponents of the law fear that “foreign agent” status will be directed toward active political communities. For example, Russia’s main opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, was declared a foreign agent this fall. Navalny is a staunch critic of Putin and has been jailed in Russia more than ten times since 2011.