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At the end of last year, Russia adopted a number of
new legal measures that many observers say are intended to further restrict the country s already state-dominated media sphere. Among other things, the government has begun placing individuals on its
list of foreign-agent media, subjecting them to potential fines or prison sentences. The government has also criminalized online defamation.
Russia s state media monitor, Roskomnadzor, this week drew up its first eight
administrative protocols all of them targeting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for allegedly violating the foreign agents law.
The protocols target four of RFE/RL s Russian-language projects its main service for Russia, Radio Svoboda; the Current Time television and digital network; and Siberia.Reality and Idel.Reality, two regional sites delivering local news and information to audiences in Siberia and the Volga-Urals region.
Roskomnadzor opens 8 administrative cases in relation to Radio Liberty projects
MOSCOW. Jan 12 (Interfax) - Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor has drawn up eight of 18 administrative offence reports with regard to four websites that are projects of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty corporation for not displaying markings denoting them as media outlets designated as foreign agents in Russia, and these will be forwarded to courts within the next three days. The first eight reports have been drawn up under Article 19.31.1 of Administrative Violations Code with regard to media outlets functioning as foreign agents without complying with the law requiring that they duly mark the information they spread. In the presence of representatives of the media outlets acting as foreign agents, the reports were drawn up due to the absence of markings on four websites. The reports will reach a magistrates court within three working days for decisions to be made on administrative p
Russian Watchdog Takes First Step Toward Punishing RFE/RL Under Foreign Agents Law
January 12, 2021 16:02 GMT
Updated
January 12, 2021 20:14 GMT
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MOSCOW Russia s telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor has drawn up its first eight administrative protocols all against Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for violating the country s controversial foreign agents law.
Roskomnadzor said in a statement on its website on January 12 that the offenses are for noncompliance by the media performing the functions of a foreign agent with the requirements of the law on labeling information disseminated by them.
The protocols target four of RFE/RL s Russian-language projects its main service for Russia, Radio Liberty; the Current Time TV and digital network; and Siberia.Reality and Idel.Reality, two regional sites delivering local news and information to audiences in Siberia and the Volga-Urals.
Two international rights watchdogs have expressed concerns over the inclusion of the five Russian citizens on a controversial list of foreign agents seen by the West as a way for Russian authorities to clamp down on dissent.
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Darya Apakhonchich is a former Red Cross volunteer. She has given Russian lessons to migrant and refugee women. And she has used her position as a performance artist to organize events to protect the environment, defend feminist causes, and protest Russian military adventurism.
Apakhonchich believes her activities are behind her being among the first individuals to be branded a foreign agent by Russia s Justice Ministry on December 28.
In an interview with
RFE/RL s Russian Service just after her placement on the Justice Ministry s registry of foreign mass media performing the functions of a foreign agent, Apakhonchich said flatly that she is not a foreign agent and that she plans to appeal the decision to add her name to the list of 17 entities and Russian citizens.