November 27, 2019

Russia bans its citizens to contact foreign media

topic:	Rule of Law
located:	Russia
editor:	Igor Serebryany

Any Russian citizen working for a foreign newspaper, TV or radio station and other mass-media could be fined for "being a foreign agent", according to the law passed by the State Duma anonymously on November 21.

Persons found providing information for such media, or reprinting their materials online are subject to a fine of 100,000 rubles (US$1,560). Alternatively, they could be arrested for 15 days.

The law is to be enacted from January 1, 2020.

Up to now, ten media outlets have been included in the list of foreign agents in Russia: Radio Liberty and the Voice of America among them. Starting January 1, not only these organizations but any person cooperating with these media outlets on a freelance basis (or otherwise paid by it) will receive the same status.

Formally, the law targets only journalists but in Russia, no one can guarantee it won't be used against any opponent of the Kremlin, head of the Roscomsvoboda project ("Russian Committee for Liberty") Artem Kozluk warns.

"Just remember what has happened to the anti-extremism laws. Initially, the law targeted armed terrorists and saboteurs. But gradually, the law became a tool against anyone actively opposing Putin's regime. Even the people whose 'crime' had been retweeting an announcement about an opposition rally", he says.

The law's wording is so inaccurate that even some representatives of the authorities don't quite understand its meaning. For instance, senator Ludmila Narusova (widow of Anatoly Sobchak, Putin's former boss in 1990s) called the law "unmatured and wrong".

"Obviously, the authorities' attempt is to lock out of mass media the supporters of Alexei Navalny, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other prominent opposition leaders. From now on, anyone who just publishes a link to their articles is subject for prosecution", Kozluk says.

He does not rule out that the recent law could be the first step toward reincarnation of a Soviet-times ban on any communications between Soviet citizens and foreigners, whoever they were. The consequences of that law are unpredictable, president of the Moscow bureau of the International Human Rights Society Vladimir Novitsky stresses.

"This law is senseless in the modern world because there are no borders for communications and exchange of information. The law is written as a blueprint of the U.S. law dated back to the 1930s. But it's impossible to employ a century-old piece of legislation to the modern realities", he notes.