"Foreign agents" were banned from being observers at elections or referendums in Russia. This decision was reached by the Plenum of the Supreme Court. The corresponding norm has existed since 2014, but it has only now been interpreted by the Supreme Court.
Also, "foreign agents" will not be able to be proxies of candidates and electoral associations.
“A person who is a foreign agent is not entitled to carry out activities that promote or hinder the nomination of candidates, lists of candidates, the election of registered candidates, the initiative to hold a referendum and the holding of a referendum, the achievement of a certain result in elections, a referendum, and also participate in election campaigns in other forms , referendum campaigns. With this in mind, a person with the status of a foreign agent cannot be an observer at elections, referendums.”
The Russian association for independent election monitoring Golos (also recognized as a “foreign agent”) notes that this is a “discriminatory law” that does not give “foreign agents” the right to observe the integrity of the elections. At the same time, from the point of view of the Constitutional Court, the opportunity to observe is part of the active suffrage. The decision of the Supreme Court will only hit citizens who have been recognized as "foreign agents":
“As for associations of citizens like Golos, they could not send observers to polling stations before. Regardless of the presence or absence of the status of a foreign agent. For many years only political parties, candidates and public chambers have had such a right. But this did not prevent the organization of independent monitoring during the elections.”
In 2022, the Ministry of Justice recognized 188 people and organizations as “foreign agents”, and in 2021 the list increased by 108. The vast majority of new defendants are individuals and legal entities recognized by the media as “foreign agents”. Also, from the report of the Ministry of Justice, it became known that there is a closed register of persons "affiliated" with foreign agents, as of December 31, 2022, there were 861 people.
At the end of 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on imprisonment for up to five years for “foreign agents” who were brought to justice twice in a year for violating the procedure for the activities of a “foreign agent” (Article 19.34 of the Code of Administrative Offenses). The Ministry of Justice of Russia may declare any legal entity or individual a "foreign agent". Previously, for this it was necessary to prove the fact that he received funding from abroad, but now it is enough that the suspect is “under foreign influence”. Also, the status of "foreign agent" 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."
