The Ministry of Justice has updated the register of foreign agents, adding 12 people to it. The list included human rights activist, founder of the Sitting Rus’ Foundation (also a foreign agent) Olga Romanova and former vice-president of Gazprombank Igor Volobuev.
The ministry’s justification states that Romanova created and distributed materials from foreign agents and false information about the decisions and policies of the Russian authorities; “participated as a respondent on information platforms provided by foreign structures” and received support from a foreign source, RBC reports.
Volobuev, the department said, supported the Ukrainian authorities and opposed military actions in this country, and also joined a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Volobuev is from Akhtyrka in the Sumy region, he worked for Gazprom and Gazprombank for more than 20 years; after February 2022, he announced that he had left Russia and joined the Kiev territorial defense, and then the “Russian Freedom Legion” (a division of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Supreme Court of Russia recognized it as a terrorist organization and banned its activities).
The following were also recognized as foreign agents: Ukrainian journalist, former deputy editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets Aider Muzhdabaev; journalists Elena Malakhovskaya and Sergei Kovalchenko; former coordinator of the headquarters of Alexei Navalny (Navalny’s headquarters are recognized as an extremist organization in Russia, their activities are prohibited) and ex-deputy of the legislative assembly of the Vologda region Evgeny Domozhirov. In October 2022, he was put on the wanted list; earlier, several protocols were drawn up against Domozhirov to discredit the army; former coordinator of Navalny’s Tambov headquarters Diana Rudakova; Krasnodar activist Vitaly Votanovsky; blogger Andrey Rudoy; economist, stock exchange and financial analyst Vladislav Zhukovsky; Nogai activist Anvar Kurmanakaev; leader of the “Speak Up!” movement Andrey Sidelnikov.
The Ministry of Justice states that most of the new members of the list disseminated materials from foreign agents and false information about the decisions of the Russian authorities; some spoke negatively about the Russian Armed Forces, in support of Kyiv and against military action. Also in the justification for replenishing the register there are calls for the provision of weapons to the Ukrainian side.
The Ministry of Justice has not updated the register of foreign agents since mid-September. The most recent additions to the list included political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky, Navalny’s ally Evgeny Kochegin, military expert Yuri Fedorov, as well as journalists Ilya Shepelin and Kirill Sedov.
Source: Rosbalt
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