Deputy Minister of Justice of Russia Oleg Sviridenko said the day before that the law on "foreign agents" would include a category of "third parties". According to him, the new provision “will apply to any third parties who are not foreign agents, they are not even affiliated with foreign agents, but they, as third parties, can exercise certain influence willy-nilly and help foreign agents violate the 255th law [on control over the activities of persons under foreign influence]”. Lawyer Ivan Pavlov, in a conversation with The Insider, explained that the goal of the new bill is to make “foreign agents” not shake hands:
“There are no third parties in the bill. We are talking about all those who are not foreign agents. Now everyone must comply with the legislation on foreign agents, so that their actions do not contribute to the activities of these. This wording is being introduced, and it fits into the general logic, because people are starting to get used to the fact that there are foreign agents and there are more of them: well, they are people, let's communicate with them. The task of the authorities is to make them not shake hands, to impress them in civil rights. For this purpose, this initiative provides for the possibility of restricting certain relations with foreign agents by other persons. You can bring relatives, for example, here under responsibility. True, they removed administrative responsibility and left only a warning that the Ministry of Justice itself can issue. Now he will not control the activities of foreign agents, but compliance with the legislation on foreign agents. This wording is broader because it includes the ability to control the activities of others. If the Ministry of Justice reveals that someone contributes to the violation of their duties by foreign agents, then a warning will be issued against this someone, which must be considered within a month. This is not an administrative penalty, but some kind of response from the Ministry of Justice.”
Pavlov draws attention to the fact that a separate law punishes failure to comply with the requirements in the form of an administrative fine.
The lawyer suggests that “most likely, the Ministry of Justice will first of all hit on the sources of financing or the provision of some services to foreign agents, for example, an office lease agreement or a venue for performances.”
Also, according to him, the media to which the “foreign agent” gives interviews may fall under this bill:
“The task of the Ministry of Justice is to bleed and silence foreign agents, to paralyze the entire economy so that no one supports them, so that they cannot do anything, they cannot buy some service or order some work, and silence, that is, make sure that they were not heard. Warnings will be issued to both economic and informational partners. Now a warning will be issued once, twice, a third, and then some RBC will be included in the list of foreign agents. There will be laughter."