Russia adds seven people, including two RFE/RL journalists, to list of 'foreign agents'

Russia has added seven people, including two Radio Free Europe (RFE) journalists, to its long and growing list of "foreign agents," a move that the RFE/RL president said was part of a "brutal attack on independent media."

The Russian Justice Ministry said on January 31 that the seven individuals were designated for their participation in foreign media platforms and, in some cases, for allegedly spreading "false information" about the Russian electoral system. It did not provide evidence for the claims.

The broader charges linking all seven relate to what the department called their opposition to Russia's war against Ukraine, which has been raging for nearly three years after President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion in February 2022. His government tolerates no criticism of the war and uses an increasingly restrictive "foreign agent" law as one of many tools to crack down on dissent.

The new ones tagged include Dmitry Sukharev, a journalist with Sistema, RFE/RL's investigative unit in Russia; and Andrei Novashov, a contributor to RFE/RL's Russian Service and North Caucasus Service. Both live outside Russia. The others are Elizaveta Focht and Ilya Abishev of BBC Russian Service; Meduza contributor Vladimir Raevsky; educator, writer and blogger Dima Zitser; and Anton Suvorkin, a video blogger covering Russian show business.

Russia introduced the "foreign agent" designation in 2012 and has since expanded legislation surrounding the designation. Kremlin critics, human rights defenders and Western governments say the Russian state uses the designation as a tool to persecute independent journalists, media outlets, activists and civil society groups.

"The labeling of RFE/RL journalists as foreign agents is the latest evidence of Russia's brutal attack on independent media," RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said on January 31.

"Despite the Kremlin's attempts to criminalize free speech at home and abroad, our brave journalists will not be intimidated."

Three correspondents for Current Time, a Russian-language TV and digital network run by RFE/RL – Iryna Romaliyska, Oleksiy Prodayvoda and Oryna Fedorovykh – were designated as foreign agents earlier in January. The Russian government had blacklisted RFE/RL’s Russian Service in 2017, along with six other RFE/RL Russian-language news services and Current Time, a media project run by RFE/RL in cooperation with the Voice of America (VOA).