Press Release, 31.01.2022

Photo: Artur Gaiduk, deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly from Yabloko

At the January session, deputies of the Pskov Regional Assembly rejected Yabloko’s initiative to introduce a federal bill envisaging the exclusion of the concept of “foreign agents” and the related norms from Russian legislation.

The bill was developed by lawyers of the St. Petersburg and Pskov branches of Yabloko. Earlier, similar projects had been introduced by Yabloko regional MPs in the legislative assemblies of St. Petersburg and the Republic of Karelia. These bills were also rejected by a majority of pro-government deputies.

Before voting on the bill Artur Gaiduk said:

“The wording of the law is such that it can be applied arbitrarily and selectively. The decision to classify [a physical person or a legal entity] as a “foreign agent” is made not by court, but by the Ministry of Justice without any competitive procedure.

A person is been casted into hell after being included in the register of “foreign agents”. He must mandatory register a legal entity, he must mark everything that he writes and publishes with the label of “foreign agent”, whether it is a post on social networks, a photograph or a congratulation. He must submit a monthly report on his income and expenses, and once a year undergo an expensive audit.

However, the worst thing is not all of this, but the fact that any inaccuracy should be punished. An administrative fine of 10,000 roubles for the first time, 50,000 roubles for the second time, and a criminal article is applied to him with a penalty of up to two years in prison for the third time. Two years in prison for, for example, an unmarked photo on social networks.

As a result, honest, smart and decent people, true patriots of Russia, are put in such conditions that they are forced to choose between prison and going abroad. The country, as back in the Soviet times, exiles undesirable people, [which is reminiscent of the cases of Soviet dissidents] Yuly Daniel, Andrei Sinyavsky, Alexander Galich, and Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

With this use, the legislation on “foreign agents” is not an instrument of information, as it is officially described, but an instrument of pressure and repression, with the help of which the authorities can punish any of their opponents, both true and imaginary.”

One deputy (Yabloko) voted for the initiative, seven abstained (the Communist party, LDPR, and the New People), 15 voted against (the ruling United Russia).

Three people in the Pskov region were entered by the Ministry of Justice of Russia into the register of foreign agents: Denis Kamalyagin, journalist and Editor-in-Chief of Pskovskaya Gubernia (he continues to work in Pskov), Lyudmila Savitskaya, correspondent of Sever.Realii (forced to leave Russia in 2021), and Vladimir Zhilinsky, head of the representative office of the Movement for the Protection of Voters’ Rights GOLOS (he was also forced to leave Russia last year).

Yabloko’s fight against political discrimination and political persecution of Russian citizens will continue, including through legislative initiatives.