Russia makes military corruption news coverage grounds for “foreign agent” status

News organizations in Russia risk being labeled “foreign agents” for covering corruption, crime and other issues within the military and space industries, under new rules this will likely strain the country’s media landscape even more.

The Federal Security Service (FSB) on Tuesday released a 60-point list of information that is not classified as a state secret, but that “states, organizations and foreign citizens can use against the security of the Russia ”.

According to the list, covering military crimes, troop morale or the size, weapons, deployments, training and structure of the Russian armed forces and other security organs are all grounds for a media to qualify. of “foreign agent”.

News organizations are also at risk of being labeled a “foreign agent” for covering military tenders and issues that notoriously “hamper the development” of the media. prone to corruption the national space agency Roscosmos.

The FSB released the list of information on “foreign agents” the same week that Russia almost double its list of media and journalists “foreign agents”. Critics have criticized the recent appointments, which pose existential threats to news organizations’ business models, amid a growing crackdown on independent voices.

“Foreign agents” are required by law to submit regular financial reports and include boilerplate text indicating their designation on everything they post, including social media posts. The media claim that the label keeps them away from advertisers, sources and partners.

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Russia’s Justice Ministry told activists in August that the government appreciated broad authority to determine the grounds for labeling a point of sale, an NGO or an individual as a “foreign agent”. Gifts from relatives and attending international conferences, for example, are grounds for qualifying as a “foreign agent”.

The Kremlin claimed to have passed the “foreign agents” law in retaliation against state-funded news outlets RT and Sputnik who were forced to register as such in the United States.

The Kremlin has rejected recent calls for the abolition of its “foreign agents” law, while senior Russian lawmakers promised examine allegations that the legislation is too vague this fall.

This article first appeared in The Moscow Times and is reissued in a sharing partnership with the Barents Observer.