MENU
Documenting
war crimes in Ukraine

The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Similar articles

Prominent Crimean Tatar journalist 'sentenced' by Russian court to 6 years for Facebook post about saving Oleh Sentsov's lifeRussia admits holding Kherson Mayor prisoner 15 months after abducting him for refusing to collaborate Перший дзвоник під час війни. Підсумки тижняJan Rachinsky, chairman of the International ‘Memorial’ Society 63% of Russians view bloody dictator and mass murderer Stalin positively. In Ukraine only 4% Посварити Україну з сусідами: як працює російська дезінформація в ПольщіAnalytical information on enforced disappearances in Ukraine‘Подвійні удари’ — росіяни цілять по рятувальниках, як робили це в СиріїUkraine ‘began the war against Russia’ in Moscow’s official school history textbook ‘Тривожна кампанія примусу’: у США заявили про системні спроби РФ паспортизувати мешканців тимчасово окупованих територійВ ООН заявили, що твердження Кремля, нібито військовополонених в Оленівці вбили ракетою Himars, не відповідають дійсностіЯк у Фінляндії та Німеччині розслідують скоєні в Україні воєнні злочини‘Острівець щастя’ в морі кровіЗаконодавча ініціатива: за кордон без супроводу дорослих — лише з 18 роківЄСПЛ оголосив рішення у справі ‘Росія проти України’Атаки на Київ і Харків, евакуація з Сумщини, повернення тіл загиблих полонених — підсумки тижня‘У неволі під обстрілами’, — звіт за результатами моніторингового візиту до Харківської виправної колонії №43 Russia has been mercilessly tormenting 23-year-old Marianna Checheliuk from Mariupol for over a year Russia’s first Ukrainian political prisoner: ‘Russians know no limits in their use of torture’У братських могилах і без жодних позначок

Russia Fines Radio Svoboda (RFE/RL) Over Alleged ’Foreign-Agent’ Violations

06.07.2018   
A Moscow court has fined Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after ruling that it had failed to comply with a Russian law regulating media outlets branded by the government as "foreign agents."

RFE/RL’s Moscow bureau (file photo)

https://rferl.org/a/russia-fines-rfe-rl-over-alleged-foreign-agent-violations/29341761.html

MOSCOW -- A Moscow court has fined Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) after ruling that it had failed to comply with a Russian law regulating media outlets branded by the government as "foreign agents."

The Tverskoi district court on July 5 ordered RFE/RL to pay 100,000 rubles ($1,600), after the judge rejected a demand by the company’s defense lawyer to postpone the hearing.

RFE/RL said it was considering its legal options. Ultimately, violations of the foreign-agent law could trigger criminal charges against RFE/RL and its staff in Russia and threaten its operations in the country.

Attorneys for RFE/RL have defended the legally mandated filings made by the company, saying there was a lack of clarity as to when the reports were due.

RFE/RL President Thomas Kent said the prosecution of RFE/RL was a “sharp new escalation in a series of Russian actions aimed at hamstringing the work of the company and at casting public suspicion on its Russian staff.”

The ruling comes eight months after the Justice Ministry slapped the “foreign-agent” label on RFE/RL, Voice of America (VOA), and several affiliated news services.

The designation was based on a law signed by President Vladimir Putin in November allowing the government to apply the label to media outlets who receive funding from abroad. The law drew sharp criticism from Western governments and rights activists.

Kent said that the entire law appears to have been politically motivated from the start.

“Of all the foreign media working in Russia, only media funded by the U.S. Congress have been designated as ‘media foreign agents’ under this law,” Kent said. “We view the law as conceived exclusively to target us. U.S. laws guarantee our editorial independence. Suggestions that we are agents of any government are false. They have already affected our ability to gather news in Russia, and they create danger for our people there.”

RFE/RL and VOA are overseen by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, a U.S. agency that supervises civilian government broadcasting and media operations. VOA is a federal entity, while RFE/RL is a private, nonprofit organization funded by a grant from the U.S. Congress.

The “foreign agent” designation places the media outlets in question under the requirements of a controversial 2012 law allowing authorities to apply the same label to nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and are deemed to engage in “political” activity.

Violations of the reporting requirements under that law are punishable by a fine -- or even up to two years in prison if the organization is deemed to have “deliberately” failed to comply.

The law signed by Putin also requires media outlets hit with the label to publish a notice informing their audiences of their “foreign-agent” status.
Russian officials have said the law is a "symmetrical response" after the satellitve TV network formerly known as Russia Today last year was required to register its U.S. operating unit under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, an 80-year-old law passed to curb the spread of Nazi propaganda.

Now known as RT, the TV channel has been accused by U.S. intelligence authorities of spreading propaganda.

U.S. officials argue that the U.S. and Russian laws are different and that Russia uses its foreign-agent legislation to silence dissent and discourage a free exchange of ideas.

Russia’s lower house of parliament is currently considering legislation that could allow the government to extend the label to specific individuals who received money from abroad and publish for media outlets designated as “foreign agents.”

The proposed legislation would require individual journalists to undergo annual audits, submit biannual reports on their activities, and put a foreign-agent label on all produced content, according to news reports.

RFE/RL’s Russian Service

 

 Share this