The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has added to the list of foreign agents. This time, among others, it included the chairman of the board of directors of the International Anti-Corruption Foundation Maria Pevchikh and the head of the investigative department of organizations Georgy Alburov. In January 2022, Alburov was included by Rosfinmonitoring in the register of terrorists and extremists.
In addition to them, political scientist Vladimir Pastukhov, politician Alexander Osovtsov and other persons were declared foreign agents. Also, the list was supplemented by the publication "Taiga.info", the women's socio-political movement "Soft Power" and the public organization "St. Petersburg Russian PEN Club".
The department’s website notes that Alburov “spread false information” about the RF Armed Forces, and Pevchikh formed a “negative image” of Russia and called for the overthrow of the current government. Taigu.info and PEN Club are accused of disseminating "negative information about the activities of the authorities" of the Russian Federation.
From December 1, 2022, literally any person or organization that the Russian authorities do not like can be declared a foreign agent. If earlier it was necessary to prove the fact that they received funding from abroad, now it is enough that they are “under foreign influence”. Also, foreign agent status is assigned to persons or organizations that conduct political activities or collect military-technical information that "can be used against the security of the country."