Thus, the State Duma of the Russian Federation has adopted in the second reading a bill that allows to declare not only legal entities, i.e. organizations, but also individuals, i.e. individuals, as «foreign agents» in Russia. Moreover, the distribution of information materials by «foreign agents» can now serve as a basis for this. It is important to note that this bill was passed with 337 votes in favor and only 1 against. This should be kept in mind the next time one of the parties with its own faction in the State Duma presents itself as an «opposition» to the ruling party, or when one is called upon to «vote wisely» for these parties, allegedly to the detriment of United Russia.
In this regard, let’s recall the development of the concept of «foreign agent» in Putin’s Russia. Initially, it was introduced under the seemingly noble pretext that no sovereign state should allow foreign interference in its political life. Today, this thesis can be vividly illustrated by the example of the investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election, suggesting «well, we are no worse.» And it is important to understand that this concept initially applied only to political activities. Moreover, at the beginning of its development, it implied voluntary inclusion in the category of «foreign agents,» since organizations receiving foreign aid themselves were required to register.
However, the next step was to extend this concept not only to political activities, but also to any social activities. Then the Ministry of Justice was given the right to include organizations receiving foreign aid in the register of foreign agents at its discretion. And it is necessary to emphasize the following. The current government, with its «Russian World» doctrine, speaks from all platforms about the need for unity and protection of the interests of Russian-speaking compatriots, wherever they live, and maintaining their ties with the homeland. And it actively uses these «compatriots» in the form of organizations it funds to influence the political life of the Baltic countries, Germany, and even the United States. However, when these same compatriots show interest in the public and political life of their homeland and support organizations that have fallen out of favor with the current government, they are declared «foreign agents».
Now the exposure of these «foreign agents» and their persecution can enter a new stage, because essentially ordinary Russian citizens, individuals, are now threatened with a ban on the dissemination of information by foreign media. Many of these media outlets are considered «foreign» for purely formal reasons and sometimes by force, such as Russian media outlets that have been forced to relocate outside of Putin’s Russia. All of this goes hand in hand with other measures to repress society within the country and isolate it from the outside world, including compatriots who have managed to find themselves in relatively free parts of the country.
It seems that at present there is no possibility for the Russians to radically change this situation. However, when the opportunity arises, which will happen sooner or later, it will be crucial to clearly understand that the alternative to such changes will be a definitive return not only to stagnation, but also to the great terror that the initiators of such laws will eventually adopt.