David Lega EU debates human rights in Russia and the 'Foreign Agents' Law

Who can be labeled a “foreign agent”?
What happens to so-called “foreign agents”?
What are experts saying?
Russia must repeal its law on ‘foreign agents’?

Russia has passed legislation that will allow individual journalists and bloggers to be labeled “foreign agents,” a move that critics say will tighten curbs on the media and free speech. At least nine news organizations funded by the U.S. government have been designated “foreign agents” under the original version of the law since it was signed by President Vladimir Putin in 2017 as a retaliation to America’s decision to restrict Kremlin-run media.

The Russian "foreign agent" law, officially "On Amendments to Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation regarding the Regulation of the Activities of Non-profit Organisations Performing the Functions of a Foreign Agent", is a law in Russia that requires non-profit organizations that receive foreign donations and engage in "political activity" to register and declare themselves as foreign agents.
The bill was introduced in July 2012 by legislators from the governing United Russia party and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on 20 July 2012. The new legislation is a series of amendments to existing laws with changes being applied to the criminal code and the laws “On Public Associations,” “On Noncommercial Organizations,” and “On Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism.” The law went into effect in November 2012, but was not actively enforced until Vladimir Putin instructed law-enforcement officials to do so during a speech to members of the Federal Security Service (Russia) on Valentine's Day 2013, stating that "Any direct or indirect interference in our internal affairs, any form of pressure on Russia, our allies and partners is unacceptable."

Once registered, NGOs are subject to additional audits and are obliged to mark all their official statements with a disclosure that it is being given by a "foreign agent". The word "foreign agent" (Иностранный агент) in Russian has strong associations with cold war-era espionage, and the law has been criticized both in Russia and internationally as a violation of human rights and as being designed to counter opposition groups; supporters of the law have likened it to United States legislation on lobbyists employed by foreign governments.

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David Lega (PPE). – Madam President, at the core of Christian democracy is civil society, and to me, as a Christian Democrat, a free, diverse and strong civil society is a precondition for a democratic state. To others like Vladimir Putin, the mere existence of some sort of civil society is nothing but a threat to everlasting authoritarian rule. And Putin ticks quite a few anti-civil society boxes. I mean systematic efforts to intimidate the media: check. Rigging elections: check. And the ‘foreign agent’ law: check. In fact, this law is just another poorly-disguised attempt to thwart a political opposition that in Putin’s view should not exist. But it does, and it must – not least in Russia. And I do understand that it must be hard for former KGB agent Putin to grasp that there isn’t a potential spy hiding around each new corner. But until he does, Russia’s brave civil society members will have my unconditional Christian Democratic support.