The president of Russia, Vladimir Putinhas signed a law this Wednesday that reduces from two to one the number of administrative sanctions required to initiate criminal proceedings against foreign agents for violating their legal obligations as such, thus opening the door to an increase in sentences against individuals designated under that label.
The new norm thus expands the criminal responsibility of these people in terms of their obligations regarding the registration of foreign agentsincluded in article 330.1 of the Russian Penal Code, and also applies to those who had already received an administrative sentence before the approval of the text, as reported by the Russian agency Tass.
In this way, if a foreign agent already sanctioned by administrative means violates section 1 of said article, that is, if he carries out his activity without being registered in said registry, he could receive a fine up to 300,000 rubles or another equivalent to your salary for a period of up to two years; He could be sentenced to hard labor for up to 480 hours or corrective labor for up to two years, and even imprisonment for a maximum period of two years.
If, on the other hand, you commit an infraction included in sections 2 to 9 of the same article, such as providing information late or incomplete, or not reporting your situation or activities in time, you could be subject to the same criminal consequences as in the first section in the event that a repeat offense is confirmed.
The law, previously approved by the Dumaaims to respond in this way to the situation described by the speaker of the chamber, Viacheslav Volodin, who lamented in September that “more than 40 percent of foreign agents do not comply with operational procedures”, also pointing to an alleged increase in administrative violations between 2023 and 2024, also of 40 percent.
The designation of these Foreign agents in Russia are criticized by human rights organizations and the international community, who consider that it stigmatizes individuals and entities critical of the Government.
The official list, updated by the Russian Ministry of Justice, includes more than 1,000 names of people and entities, including at least a dozen Russian deputies. In addition, the Russian authorities have declared more than 200 foreign organizations “undesirable” since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, so that their activities and those who support them are completely prohibited on Russian territory.
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