The request of the New Serbian Democracy for the urgent introduction of the Law on Foreign Agents represents a serious threat to the European integration of Montenegro, the Digital Forensic Center (DFC) announced.
The DFC points out that this law is a key tool used by autocratic regimes to stifle freedom of speech and collapse democracy. The DFc also stated that through analyzes and studies, which treat Russian malignant influence in Montenegro, they warned against the actions of Russian and Serbian proxy actors, especially emphasizing the issue of the Law on Foreign Agents.
Below, we present the DFC's announcement in its entirety.
Russia and the Law on Foreign Agents
"The Law on Foreign Agents has been in force in Russia since 2012 and has been revised several times over the past decade to include a growing number of potential targets for state-enforced discrimination. To date, more than 500 organizations, journalists, activists, artists and others public figures have been given that status.Currently, any organization, media or individual can be designated as foreign agent simply by the Russian Ministry of Justice declaring them to be under foreign influence, or due to receiving any amount of money from abroad (or from an entity that itself receives foreign funds). Categories that can be recognized as foreign agents are: Russian or foreign legal entity, regardless of its organizational and legal form; a public association that operates without establishing a legal entity, another association of individuals, a structure from abroad without establishing a legal entity; individuals, regardless of their nationality, non-profit organizations, media platforms and individual Russian citizens, including journalists and activists.
Almost all independent media have already been eliminated. Most independent journalists are forced to flee the country, and as a result of anti-media laws, journalists and other activists receive very harsh prison terms. No journalist is protected from threats of serious charges under vaguely worded repressive laws that are often passed overnight. Many laws relating to freedom of expression have been passed in recent years – including defamation laws and fake news – were amended to be included in the Criminal Code at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The invasion of Ukraine gave a new impetus to this process, with the Russian parliament adopting amendments according to which false information about the Russian armed forces and any other Russian state body operating abroad is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Russian proxies
Following Russia's example, numerous autocratic regimes around the world use an identical legal mechanism to consolidate power and stifle any dissonant tone. Under the leadership of President Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian government introduced changes in 2011 that established criminal liability for local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that receive foreign grants and donations if doing so violates local legislation. They were also prohibited from holding funds in foreign banks. In the same year, the Criminal Code was amended, expanding the definition of treason to any form of assistance from foreign states or organizations if it could threaten the national security of Belarus. This further increased the risks for NGOs and civil society. In recent years, Lukashenko has continued to tighten his grip on civil society. Decrees issued in 2015 and 2020 tightened reporting requirements for received foreign donations and limited types of aid, while banning foreign funding in the fields of arts, scientific research and human rights. The Department of Humanitarian Affairs has been given greater powers to oversee the use of foreign funding, with priority given to projects approved by the state. In January 2023, Lukashenko's regime secretly adopted the Law on the Confiscation of Citizens' Property with the later explanation that it was aboutresponse to enemy actions. By abusing these laws, Lukashenko's autocratic regime managed to completely stifle freedom of speech and any form of opposition activity, with the arrest of numerous journalists, members of the NGO sector, civil activists and opposition politicians.
Georgia is the most striking example of the harmful consequences of the Foreign Agents Act. The pro-Russian proxy government in Georgia took advantage of the institutional advantages and adopted a law according to which organizations that receive more than 20 percent of funds from abroad must be registered as foreign agents. The passing of the law caused large protests in the country and additional destabilization of society. The EU stopped the accession negotiations with Georgia, so the pro-European agenda in that country was stopped.
After the Foreign Agents Act was passed in Georgia, proponents of its enactment tried to relativize its discriminatory and anti-European provisions by comparing it to the US Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The American law was passed in 1938 with the aim of suppressing Nazi propaganda. Unlike the Russian or Georgian law, that law does not oblige civil society organizations to register solely on the basis of foreign funding. Also, under FARA, organizations that disagree with official US policy are not censored or financially penalized. However, pro-Russian proxy actors used the existence of that Law to implement an agenda in their countries that is contrary to European values and implement authoritarian tendencies, stifling the freedom of civil society and limiting the activities of independent media and non-governmental organizations.
Hungary, which is a member of the European Union, is trying to emulate Russia through the adoption of the Law on the Defense of National Sovereignty in December 2023 and the establishment of the Office for the Protection of Sovereignty in February 2024, which is tasked with collecting information on all groups or individuals who benefit from foreign funding and influence the public debate. In October 2024, the European Commission announced that it would sue Hungary at the International Court of Justice in The Hague for possible violations of the right to privacy and freedom of expression and association due to the adoption of that Law. Hungary adopted a similar law in 2017 with the aim of dealing with foreign-funded organizations, but it was annulled in 2021 after the European Court of Justice found that it was not in line with European Union regulations.
A similar law is being prepared in Slovakia. The law, which was adopted in the first reading in April 2024, would treat organizations that receive more than five thousand euros from abroad as organizations with foreign support. The text of the law stipulates that non-governmental organizations must provide the authorities with information about the identity of donors, and it also foresees the possibility that the Ministry of Internal Affairs may fine or disband those who do not work in accordance with the law. The European Union told Slovakia that due to the adoption of that law, it could receive sanctions from the EU.
All of the aforementioned laws are modeled after Russia's Foreign Agents Act, and were adopted by Russian proxies or ruling elites sympathetic to Vladimir Putin's regime. In June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously ruled that the Russian law on foreign agents violated the European Convention on Human Rights by denying freedom of assembly and association.
West Balkan
Russian malign influence is strongly present in the Western Balkans region, and one of the ways of manifesting that influence is the promotion of the Russian authoritarian system of government. The President of the Republika Srpska (RS), Milorad Dodik, has on several occasions announced the introduction of a law on foreign agents in that entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, in May 2024, he announced that the Proposal of the law on the special register and publicity of the work of non-profit organizations withdrawn from the parliamentary procedure. Dodik announced that he Republika Srpska committed to the European path, adding that the law was withdrawn for additional harmonization and alignment with European practice, as well as that after that the law will be returned to the procedure. The proposal of the Law provided for special surveillance and the possibility of banning the work of non-governmental organizations that are financed from abroad, the ban on political activities, the need for additional registration and the sending of financial reports.
In Serbia, the ruling structures constantly target the opposition media and non-governmental sector as foreign mercenaries, while some pro-Russian and pro-Serbian media and extreme right-wing structures in Montenegro target the NGO sector in an identical way in order to create an environment of fear and insecurity. In this way, Russian proxies in the region tend to additionally promote authoritarian values in the Western Balkans.
DFC continuously points to the problem of foreign interference, which aims to collapse democracy and change the Euro-Atlantic course of Montenegro. The request to introduce the Law on Foreign Agents is the latest blatant example of that intention. It is obvious that the pro-Russian and pro-Serbian structures that are part of the government in Montenegro are trying to stop the process of democratization of Montenegro and its European path with such proposals, promoting the use of means and methods from the arsenal of the official Kremlin.
Representatives of the Russian-Serbian influence who are part of the current parliamentary majority in Montenegro are trying to move the boundaries and, according to the already established methodology of gradual adaptation of Montenegrin society to unacceptable attitudes and unimaginable solutions until yesterday, implement an initiative whose goal is to stifle civil society organizations and independent media that promote values in in accordance with the proclaimed national interests and strategic goals that are reflected in the process of European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Montenegro. In this way, additional space would be opened for the completely unhindered operation of autocratic regimes, above all those in Belgrade and Moscow whose agenda, among other things, includes denying the European future to the citizens of Montenegro. Blocking the European path of Montenegro is a clear goal of Russia, which was publicly announced by the recent ambassador of the Russian Federation to Montenegro.
In Montenegro, unfortunately, there is no institutional fight against foreign interference and misinformation. The only barrier against these anti-democratic phenomena in Montenegrin society are organizations such as the Digital Forensic Center," the announcement reads.
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