In the Russian Federation, 13 criminal cases were initiated under the article on “foreign agents”

In Russia, 13 criminal cases were initiated against people declared by the authorities to be so-called foreign agents, under the article on non-compliance with the duties of a foreign agent. Yevgeny Zaitsev, head of the Electronic Communications Control and Supervision Department of Roskomnadzor, told Interfax about this last week. The mass media, in particular, Sibir.Realii and “Mediazona”, paid attention to his statement today – in connection with the criminal case against the journalist Evgenia Baltatarova.

According to Zaitsev, fines of 3.7 million rubles were issued only for the lack of “innoagent” marking and this year alone. “Information about foreign agents who have violated Russian legislation is passed on to the Investigative Committee for initiation of appropriate criminal cases,” the official said.

“Mediazona” notes that from the second half of 2023, the number of protocols drawn up for participants in the “foreign agents” registry began to increase sharply. Potential criminal cases can now be initiated against 93 people, as they have already been issued two or more fines under an administrative article.

All 13 names of people against whom criminal cases have been instituted under the article on non-fulfillment of the duties of a foreign agent are not known. Previously, only a few such cases were reported – in relation to the participants of the “Voice” election observer movement Vladimir Zhilynskyi, Artem Vazhenkov and Sergey Pyskunov, as well as journalist Denys Kamalagin. Sota names a few more names – according to the publication, criminal cases have been initiated against political scientist Fyodor Krasheninnikov, activists from Vladivostok Regina Dzugkoeva and Tatyana Namazbayeva, activist from Tatarstan Ruslan Aysyn. These cases were not officially reported.

Last fall, Radio Free Europe/Radio Svoboda journalist Alsa Kurmasheva was arrested in Kazan. She was the first in Russia to be accused of failing to submit documents to include herself in the register of “foreign agents.” This is the second article, a case can be initiated under it even without previous administrative sanctions. Later, she was accused of so-called fakes about the army.

On Thursday, a journalist from Buryatia, Yevgenia Baltatarova, who left for Kazakhstan, against whom a case has already been opened for the so-called fakes about the army, reported in her Telegram channel that a criminal case was opened against her for non-compliance with the law on “foreign agents”. The journalist writes that the reason for the criminal prosecution was the lack of a disclaimer about “foreign agency” in her publications and a report on the activities of a “foreign agent”.

Baltatarova did not specify how she learned about the persecution, however, in 2023, the Oktyabrsky district court of Ulan-Ude fined her three times in a row under the administrative article on violation of the order of activity of a “foreign agent”, Mediazona notes.