Russia Tags Media Outlet, Reporters As 'Foreign Agents'

Russian authorities designated an investigative media outlet and several journalists as "foreign agents," raising pressure on the country's independent media ahead of a September parliamentary election, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The Justice Ministry said it added the online news site The Insider and five journalists to the list of "foreign agents," a label that envisages additional government scrutiny and carries a strong pejorative connotation that could discredit the recipients.

The Insider, which is registered in Latvia, has published investigations into alleged corruption and abuses by Russian officials, purported Russian covert action in Ukraine and Syria, and the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The site said it would continue working as usual, operating in conformity with Latvian law.

The Justice Ministry acted under a law that is used to designate as "foreign agents" non-governmental organizations and individuals who receive foreign funding and engage in activities loosely described as political.

Another law is used to outlaw groups deemed "undesirable" and makes membership in them a criminal offense. It has been used to ban 41 groups, including opposition groups, foreign NGOs and most recently, the publisher of Proekt, an online investigative media outlet.

The Justice Ministry on Friday also designated two Proekt journalists and three other reporters as foreign agents. Two other popular independent outlets, Meduza and VTimes, previously were named foreign agents. VTimes subsequently shut down, while Meduza launched a crowd-funding campaign.

Russia also used the law to levy heavy fines on US-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty for failing to identify its material as produced by foreign agents. The broadcaster has asked the European Court of Human Rights to intervene.

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