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Russia’s Justice Ministry has added several people and groups to its list of “foreign agents.” Notably, this week’s update includes pro-war blogger Roman Alekhin, who is under investigation for allegedly laundering funds intended to support Russian troops taking part in the invasion of Ukraine. The Justice Ministry claimed that Alekhin had also spread “fakes” aimed at creating a negative image of the Russian army.
After learning of his new status, Alekhin told the Russian business publication RBC that he had not received any notification from the Justice Ministry but would appeal the decision, calling it “illegal” and “unfair.”
“There have been absolutely no financial payments, cash or otherwise, from foreigners to me. Never. I would never take them… I will, of course, label my [publications]. I am a citizen of Russia and must comply with the laws of the Russian Federation, no matter how absurd they may be,” he said.
Alekhin came under scrutiny in early September, according to reports from state-controlled and pro-Kremlin media. Izvestia published a video showing a man resembling Alekhin discussing a kickback scheme. The footage allegedly involved a 200 million ruble ($2.4 million) procurement deal that provided for a 50 million ruble ($599,000) “commission” intended to be pocketed by the blogger.
In separate comments to RBC, Alekhin called the incident a “provocation.” He said the men who approached him were “looking for funds for partnership” and spoke of “huge” sums — tens or hundreds of millions of rubles. According to the pro-Kremlin blogger, the talks mentioned that 65% of the funds would go to medical needs, while underdeliveries of up to 10% could be approved by unit commanders. He told RBC he was called in for questioning by the police but was later released.
Alekhin added that his interlocutors suggested “a couple more of these schemes.” According to him, he replied: “guys, I can certainly think about how this could be organized, but I have no other ideas for how to ‘kick back’ those 10 percent to you through the fund.”
Alekhin is the second pro-war figure to have joined Russia’s list of “foreign agents” in recent weeks after “Kremlin insider” Sergei Markov was designated on Aug. 22.
Among the other notable names on this week’s list were:
- Ivan Vostrikov, founder of the anti-war project Bogaty Region (lit. “Rich Region”), an environmentalist and former coordinator of Alexei Navalny’s regional headquarters in Tyumen (2019-2021);
- Elena Rykovtseva, journalist at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty;
- Sergey Erlikh, a Moldovan and Russian historian, publisher, publicist and PhD in history;
- the human rights-focused media project Avtozak-LIVE.
Vostrikov, Rykovtseva and Erlikh do not live in Russia. Earlier this month, Avtozak-LIVE announced it would cease operations by the end of the year due to a chronic funding shortage.
Russia’s “foreign agents” regime started with a 2012 law targeting NGOs engaging in “political activity” while receiving any foreign funding. It has been repeatedly expanded since then, most notably by a consolidated law that took effect on Dec 1. 2022, allowing designations for virtually any person or entity deemed to be under “foreign influence.” The updated law mandates those listed to disclose their sources of funding and mark all of their publications with a special tag. Non-compliance can lead to large fines and potential prison time.
As noted by Human Rights Watch, the expanded law constituted “an unrestrained attack on Russian civil society aimed at gagging any public criticism of state policies.” Many organizations simply shut down in order to avoid the stigmatizing designation, or because they could not pay heavy fines for failing to meet the law’s burdensome and arbitrary labeling and reporting rules.
Over time, the registry has come to include major NGOs like the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Memorial, the Levada Center polling firm, and all of Russia’s independent media outlets — The Insider, Meduza, The Moscow Times, and TV Rain among them. Numerous journalists, activists, and bloggers have also received the designation. The Insider’s editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov (#99 on the list), as well as investigative reporters Sergei Ezhov (#829 on the list) and Andrey Zayakin (#54 on the list) share the distinction of having been singled out individually.