The Kremlin close the circle against the media uncomfortable. The lower House of the Russian Parliament (the State Duma) has approved on third and final reading a bill that allows you to declare “foreign agent” to journalists or bloggers who work or have links with media that already have that tag, and receiving foreign funds. The organizations that work for civil rights and freedom of the press have warned that this new measure seeks to “restrict the free and independent media”.

The standard, warn lawyers, also opens the door to a person who disseminates information of those media labeled as a “foreign agent” —even in the social networks— and receive foreign funds, even if it is for something not related, is also included in that list. The entry in the category of “foreign agent” —which in Russia is associated, for historical reasons arising from stalinism to espionage and the concept of ‘enemy of the State'—, supposed fiscal controls and legal much more strict.

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The us Government requires RT, which is registered as an agency of the Kremlin, Russia will extend to the media, the law on “foreign agents”

The Russian law already provides for from 2012 to declare as “foreign agents” non-governmental organizations and the defence of human rights that receive foreign funds. In 2017, was also included to the media in response, according to the Kremlin, to the extent of the u.s. Administration, which ruled that the channel Russian state RT should register as a foreign agent, following a legislation of the thirties. Now, there are a dozen of media in the list of “foreign agents”; including Radio Freedom and Voice of America (which receive funding from the Administration of U.S.), which should reflect in its products (articles, tv or radio programs) that status.

So, until now could be considered “foreign agents” legal persons. But with the draft law approved on Thursday by 311 votes in favour of the 315, and that only the formality of passing by the Council of the Federation and receive the signature of the president, Vladimir Putin, will be added also to physical persons: journalists, bloggers or workers of these means of communication already in the list of foreign agents.

civil rights Organizations such as Human rights Watch, warned that this new law is a step in the Kremlin to “control” the media. Amnesty International, Reporters without Borders and eight other organizations have criticized the measure, which, they say in a press release, “one more step to restrict the free and independent media” and “a “powerful tool to silence opposition voices”. The head of media freedom for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Harlem Désir, has called for the withdrawal of the law. “You can have a considerable effect on journalists, as well as in bloggers, experts, or other people who publish information, particularly online,” he said.

Meanwhile, the spokesman of Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Peskov, has said that those alerts are just “horror stories”. Also the drivers of the act passed in the first reading it is now more than a year and was until now in term of amendments, assure that the label of foreign agent will only affect a “circle very small group of people who receive funds and work with " foreign agents”, said the head of the Committee of Information Policy of the State Duma Leonid Levin. However, the deputy also pointed out to the newspaper Kommersant that “if a person writes about hockey or hunting of butterflies, will not be recognized as a foreign agent”. Now, added Levin, “if you write on materials related to the socio-political situation then yes there is a risk".

Date Of Update: 25 December 2019, 20:00