The Prosecutor General's Office recognized undesirable activity in Russia The Insider (Latvia), Bellingcat Ltd. (Great Britain), Stichting Bellingcat (Netherlands), CEELI Institute (Czech Republic). The message was posted on the Telegram channel of the Prosecutor General's Office.
The prosecutor's office claims that the activities of the organizations pose a "threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and the security of the Russian Federation."
The department sent information about the decision to the Ministry of Justice for inclusion in the list of undesirable. Now there are 56 organizations in this list.
The day before, Vladimir Putin signed a law amending, among other things, the criminal article on participation in the activities of "undesirable organizations" (Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code). Previously, punishment was provided only for activities in Russia, now the article provides for liability, including for participation in the work of an "undesirable organization" abroad.
The Insider and Bellingcat are also recognized as "foreign agents" in Russia. In addition, after the outbreak of the war, Roskomnadzor demanded that the Russian media use only the wording “special operation” when covering the invasion of Ukraine. Both publications reported on the movement of Russian troops and Russia's preparations for the invasion of Ukraine. Since February 24 in Russia, The Insider, like a number of other media outlets, has been blocked in Russia.
The Insider and Bellingcat are conducting joint investigations. In 2021, Bellingcat, The Insider and CNN's Der Spiegel investigation into the poisoning of Alexei Navalny won a news and documentary Emmy Award for "Outstanding Investigative News Reporting". The Insider and Bellingcat also obtained documents from which it follows that the Internal Security Department of the FSB admits that the details of telephone conversations, which, among other evidence, were used in the publication of the investigation into the poisoning of Navalny, are indeed details of active FSB officers.
One of the investigations by The Bellingcat and The Insider made it possible to establish that Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, suspected by Britain of poisoning the Skripals, are indeed employees of the Russian special services. This is confirmed by a number of documents, as well as direct and indirect evidence. Later, the UK confirmed the data of the publications about the third poisoner of the Skripals. British police for the first time officially named the third Russian, who, in their opinion, was involved in the poisoning of a former GRU officer and his daughter.