Is it true that the American law on “foreign agents” is stricter than in Russia?

Almost every Friday, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation adds to the list of “foreign agents”, which include journalists, media outlets, public organizations, political activists and even cultural figures. Russian authorities say that the American analogue of such a law is much stricter. We decided to check if this is true.

In June 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin compared the laws on “foreign agents” in the Russian Federation and the United States in some detail. IN interview American television company NBC, when asked about the fight against dissent in Russia, he answered: “This is not our invention, it was back in the 30s that the law on foreign agents was adopted in the United States, and it is much tougher than ours, aimed, among other things, at preventing interference in the internal political life of the United States. And in general, in general, I think that he is justified.” In May 2022, the need to tighten the “too liberal” Russian law spoke and Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. And more recently, in March 2023, the severity of the American law on “foreign agents” was again discussed in connection with a similar bill in Georgia, which, however, the ruling party recalled after mass protests.

US Foreign Agent Registration Act (Foreign Agents Registration Act, FARA), indeed, was adopted in 1938 and provided for the mandatory registration of organizations and individuals conducting political activities in the United States and at the same time associated with foreign governments. The reason for its adoption was the activity of emissaries of Nazi Germany. FARA was subsequently applied during the period McCarthyism, when every leftist intellectual was seen as a communist agent.

But since then the law has changed significantly. In 1966, amendments were adopted to it, which shifted the emphasis: Now the law does not deal with any political activity, but primarily with lobbying - that is, it covered organizations or individuals who actually work with foreign powers and at the same time seek to obtain economic or political advantages for their “customer” by influencing government decision-making.

There are two important terms in American law: agent (that is, the one who acts) and foreign principal (the one for whose benefit the agent acts). In the modern edition of FARA indicatedthat an agent is one who is managed, controlled or financed wholly or largely by a foreign principal. This is an important difference from Russian law. For example, the movement in defense of voter rights “Voice” found out from court documents that was included in the register of “foreign agents” due to a bank transfer from an Armenian citizen in the amount of 200 rubles. And among the reasons for including the employees of the publication “Project” among the “foreign agents” indicated reposts of “foreign agent” media publications. In the latest edition of the Russian law about “foreign agents” the wording is as vague as possible: “Foreign influence is understood as the provision by a foreign source of support to a person and (or) exerting influence on a person, including through coercion, persuasion and (or) other means.” And support, according to the same law, is “the provision of funds and (or) other property to a person by a foreign source.” That is, formally, 200 rubles are also considered support from a foreign source. But now this is not so important: a “foreign agent” can be recognized even in the absence of funding, solely for “influence.”

The procedure for being included in the list of “foreign agents” also varies significantly. In Russia, people are de facto included in this list forcibly, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, which is not even obliged to publicly prove receipt of foreign funding or falling under foreign influence. Potential “foreign agent” in the USA sends it himself documents to the Ministry of Justice, where they are studied and the applicant is included in the register. If, as in the case of RT and the American legal entity of the TV channel, the US Department of Justice independently discloses dependence on a foreign source, then first it also offers to register voluntarily, and then includes it on the list.

By 2023, “foreign agents” in Russia have become almost everything remaining independent media. In the USA in the appropriate list only the RT television channel, which is directly linked to the Russian state, as well as Chinese television channels and the state news agency Xinhua.

In Russia, as in the United States, large fines are provided for the lack of labeling, but, unlike American norms, this applies not only to the websites of organizations, but also to any social networks or products (for example, books and magazines). Thus, in the fall of 2019, the Memorial human rights center fined a total of one million rubles for lack of labeling on YouTube and Facebook. And in February 2023 it appeared first criminal case about “repeated evasion of the duties of a “foreign agent”.” These responsibilities include careful financial reporting and labeling of any public activity, including social media posts.

In the USA, such marking is provided, but in reality, most “foreign agents” do not comply with this provision. From US Department of Justice reports it is clear that many American “foreign agents” do not bother themselves with additional financial reporting. Moreover, the RT channel, after confession who was a “foreign agent” in the United States and the Russian law was adopted, also ignores labeling requirement.

Finally, Russian law has article 11, dedicated to the restrictions associated with the status of a “foreign agent”. “Foreign agents” cannot hold government positions, are deprived of the opportunity to participate in election commissions, organize public events, and teach in state and municipal educational organizations. There are no such restrictions in American law.

The only thing that is the same is the maximum penalty: 5 years in prison. In 2021, Vladimir Putin said that in Russian law “foreign agents” do not face criminal liability, but this is not so. For repeated violation of the law provided punishment of up to two years in prison, and if it involves “collection of military or military-technical information,” then up to five years in prison.

Cover photo: Victoria Odissonova/Novaya Gazeta

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. Jellyfish. “Is there hope for a normal life? I doubt it."
2. Jellyfish. Still don’t believe that being a “foreign agent” is real discrimination? Here are many (short and concise) examples of why this is so.
3. Did Cicero say: “The closer the collapse of the empire, the crazier its laws”?