The Federation Council approves amendments to the law on foreign agents
Senators have agreed amendments (http://council.gov.ru/events/news/146858) that include fines for action or lack of action, monitoring and a ban on receiving State assets.
Action or lack of action
A new provision has been added to Article 1 of the federal law on “Controlling the activities of those acting under foreign influence”. This means that public organisations in all forms of ownership, together with officials and individuals regardless of citizenship “must take account of the restrictions associated with foreign agent status when carrying out their activities”.
Unscheduled checks
Unplanned audits can now be carried out in respect of the aforementioned individuals/organisations if the Ministry of Justice, the body responsible for ensuring compliance with the foreign agents legislation, receives information about breaches of its legal requirements.
Fines of up to 300,000 roubles
If any “action or lack of action” of an individual or organisation leads to a breach of the foreign agents law, the Ministry of Justice will first issue a warning, which, if ignored, will result in the imposition of a range of fines: 30,000 to 50,000 roubles for individuals, 70,000 to 100,000 or disqualification from office for officials and 200,000 to 300,000 for organisations.
Ban on receiving State assets
Organisations and individuals that have foreign agent status will not be able to receive State funding or asset support, including for creative activities.
