How to live with the label of foreign agent

In the podcast, Hello, You’re a Foreign Agent , Sofya Groysman and Olga Churakova (themselves included in the register of foreign media agents as compiled by the Russian Ministry of Justice), address the problems associated with living as a registered foreign agent, and discuss how to continue to live, work and not give up.

10/08/2021

Hello, You’re a Foreign Agent is a podcast in which journalists describe how they live with the status of a registered foreign agent and discuss their prospects and future steps on how to move forward with their lives.

At this moment, the register includes 18 individuals in total.

“We came up with the idea for this podcast, first and foremost, to explain and to clarify to people what this label of ‘foreign agent’ actually means. Also, the podcast is a way for us to hold onto our own sanity in this weird reality that seemingly strives to demonise journalists as enemies of the people. Together with our friends, lawyers and colleagues we will discuss it all: how we can all continue to live, work and not lose hope in this situation,” an ad for the podcast declares.

Feedback on the podcast can be given on Instagram at @sonyagro and @olyala.

You can listen to the podcast here.

On July 23, the Ministry of Justice entered 5 journalists onto the register of foreign media agents, among them Sofia Groysman.

Previously, 8 other journalists had been added to the register (all 8 having collaborated with the Proekt publication which was labelled as objectionable by Russian authorities), including Olga Churakova. 

This led to the Commission on Human Rights sending a request to the Ministry of Justice stating the need for explanations when including journalists in their register.

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2021/08/10/zhurnalisty-zapisali-podkast-o-zhizni-so-statusom-inoagenta/

Translated by Holly Battye