Russian foreign agent law

Foreign agent law
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
Citation	121-FZ
Date enacted	20 July 2012
Date commenced	21 November 2012
Legislative history
Bill	102766-6

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 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.

The foreign agent label increases registration barriers for an NGO in Russia. This includes restrictions on foreigners and stateless peoples from establishing or even participating in the organization. A NGO must then submit to extensive audits. Supervisory powers are allowed to intervene and interrupt the internal affairs of the NGO with suspensions for up to 6 months.

Once labeled as foreign agents, organizations are obliged to mark all their publications and to begin each oral statement with a disclosure that it is being given by a "foreign agent". It also limits the way a foreign organization can make tax-exempt donations to specific people or the NGO by requiring them to register and be placed on a very limited list of approved organizations.

Some NGOs report curtailed access to government officials and public institutions and continued harassment. NGO raids have been reported as being accompanied by television crews from state TV channel NTV.

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