{"id":100393,"date":"2020-12-23T11:31:34","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T05:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/russia-lawmakers-expand-score-of-foreign-agents-law\/"},"modified":"2020-12-23T23:22:03","modified_gmt":"2020-12-23T17:22:03","slug":"russia-lawmakers-expand-score-of-foreign-agents-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/russia-lawmakers-expand-score-of-foreign-agents-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia Lawmakers Expand Score of \u2018Foreign Agents\u2019 Law\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Russian parliament's lower chamber has approved several controversial bills that human rights watchdogs and the opposition have said undermine democratic processes. <\/p>\n
Among the legislation approved by the State Duma on December 23 was a series of amendments to the controversial law on "foreign agents" that requires organizations that have received the designation to report their activities and face financial audits. <\/p>\n
The changes expand the scope of individuals and groups that can be designated "foreign agents," introduce new restrictions and registration and reporting requirements, and oblige the media to note the designation whenever they mention these individuals or groups. <\/p>\n
The new law says individuals, including foreign journalists, involved in Russia's political developments or collecting materials and data related to Russia's defense or national security issues must be included on the list of foreign agents. <\/p>\n
It also says that individuals labeled as "foreign agents" would be banned from joining the civil service or holding a municipal government position, while forcing them to mark their letters to authorities and other material with a "foreign agent" label. <\/p>\n
Last month, Amnesty International slammed the proposed legislation saying it would "drastically limit and damage the work not only of civil society organizations that receive funds from outside Russia but many other groups as well." <\/p>\n
Another bill related to "foreign agents" and approved on December 23 lays out a punishment of up to five years in prison for individuals or organizations labeled as foreign agents who fail to inform official entities about their status, and\/or refuse to report their activities to Russian authorities. <\/p>\n
The "foreign agent" law, originally passed in 2012, requires designated organizations to report their activities and face financial audits. Critics say the law has been arbitrarily applied to target Russian civil society organizations, human rights defenders, and political activists, including outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation. <\/p>\n
The State Duma also approved in a final reading on December 23 a bill that would allow the state media regulator, Roskomnadzor, to block websites that "discriminate against Russian media." <\/p>\n