Russian courts start fining ordinary citizens for mere mentions of “foreign agents”. Here’s how it works

What the law says

In the summer of 2023, Russia’s State Duma passed amendments to legislation on “foreign agents”. Under this legislation, people and organisations suspected of receiving funding from abroad or deemed to be “under foreign influence” can be officially designated as inostranny agent (“foreign agent”)—a label that carries heavy bureaucratic burdens, social stigma and countless legal restrictions, with a possiblity of criminal prosecution. The new amendments introduced two key provisions.

First, the law was expanded to apply not just to public authorities and private organisations, but to anyone—regardless of citizenship—who must, in the course of their work or public activity, account for the legal restrictions imposed on “foreign agents”. The text makes clear that individuals must not contribute, even passively, to violations of Russian law by anyone on the “foreign agents” list.

Second, a new clause in the Administrative Code made it possible to penalise any actions the state deems to “facilitate a violation” of the law by a designated “foreign agent”.

Here’s how it works in practice: if someone writes something online that refers to a person or organisation labelled a “foreign agent”, the Ministry of Justice may issue a formal warning stating that the post fails to disclose the individual’s status. The phrase used in these cases is “without indicating their designation”.

From there, the person has two months to “rectify the violation”—either by adding a disclaimer noting the subject’s status or by deleting the post entirely. If they fail to do so, the case goes to court, where the offender can be fined between 30,000 and 50,000 roubles (~$360–600 at the current exchange rate).

What counts as a mention?

Almost anything. The rapper Legalize, for instance, was fined over a post on Telegram promoting a music video he made with another “foreign agent”, animator Pavel Muntyan.

In Saint Petersburg, Orthodox priest Grigory Mikhnov-Vaitenko received a fine for reposting an article from Bumaga, a local independent media outlet.

These examples involve public figures. The law, however, isn’t being applied only to them. Elmira Nazyrova, a schoolteacher in Kazan, was fined 30,000 roubles for quoting Svetlana Lada-Rus, a fringe political figure also designated as a “foreign agent”. The post wasn’t on Telegram or Twitter, but on VK, a Russian social media platform.

In effect, the Justice Ministry expects anyone posting online to check whether they have mentioned someone on the country’s growing list of nearly 1,000 “foreign agents”—and, if so, to clearly state their status. State-affiliated media typically do this using a footnote marked with an asterisk.

Will I get a warning before being fined?

That’s not guaranteed. Nazyrova, the teacher from Kazan, never received the warning sent by the Ministry—it was returned marked “undelivered”. Political scientist Alexander Kynev told the court he was in another city at the time and had received no notification at all. The courts in both Kazan and Moscow dismissed these circumstances. Both defendants were fined.

Who’s been fined so far?

Since January, courts in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and Kazan have fined at least eight people. But reports are being filed across the country.

In Vladivostok, Igor Petrenko, editor-in-chief of the business outlet Club of Directors, received a warning from the Ministry of Justice. He managed to avoid a fine by proving in court that the notice lacked his apartment number and therefore hadn’t been delivered.

How to avoid being fined

There are two main approaches. The first is to scrutinise all your online posts and either add a disclaimer when mentioning someone on the “foreign agents” list, or avoid mentioning them at all. With the list now approaching 1,000 names, that’s no simple task. It also means checking everything you’ve ever posted on social media. The Ministry can dredge up posts that are five or even ten years old and demand that you “correct the violation”.

The second approach is more drastic: set your social media accounts to private, so posts are only visible to approved followers. The Ministry cannot initiate a case based on content that isn’t publicly accessible.

There’s also a third option, though it’s not advisable: do nothing and hope the system only targets celebrities, activists or public intellectuals. As Kynev puts it: “It’s unlikely anyone at the Ministry of Justice is personally scrolling through thousands of posts. They simply don’t have the staff. It’s obviously the result of someone informing on you.”

Editor: Dmitry Tkachev