Pyvovarov will give the rights to “Editorial” because of the law on “foreign agents”

Journalist and creator of the Redaktsia project, Aleksey Pivovarov, said that due to the law prohibiting advertising from so-called foreign agents, he was forced to fire a significant part of the team.

“Despite the fact that “Editorial” is located in Russia, works in Belarus, and all our advertisers are also here, it hits us much harder than many who work from abroad. One of the first consequences of this law for me was the need to say goodbye to a significant part of the team, because I simply can’t pay people anymore,” Pyvovarov wrote in a telegram.

The journalist also noted that he is transferring the legal rights to the “Pyvovarov (Editorial)” Telegram channel and the management of the editors who have been working on the project lately. The name of the channel and the logo will be changed, Pyvovarov clarified. “I won’t hide that these are difficult and painful changes for me, but I am confident that the project is in good hands,” the journalist said.

Alexey Pyvovarov created the YouTube channel Redaktsia in 2019. More than four million people signed the project. The “Pyvovarov (Editorial)” telegram has more than a million subscribers.

The Ministry of Justice of Russia recognized Pivovarov as a foreign agent in the summer of 2022.

• The State Duma passed a law banning advertising for foreign agents at the end of February. According to the document, organizations are prohibited from advertising anyone recognized by the Russian authorities as foreign agents, and from advertising themselves on their resources.
• The Russian authorities can declare anyone who is under “foreign influence” a foreign agent, the definition of which is very vague in the law. Now there are more than 570 “foreign agents” in the register: individuals, mass media, NGOs and companies.
• The status of foreign agent obliges, among other things, to report quarterly on the movement of funds on personal accounts and to mark all public messages. Errors in the report or lack of marking are punishable up to imprisonment.
• From the end of 2022, “foreign agents” are prohibited from teaching in state institutions, organizing public events, serving in the army under contract, and being members of election commissions.