Russia declares two Radio Liberty journalists “foreign agents”

Russia has added seven people, including two Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalists, to a list of “foreign agents.” On January 31, the Russian Justice Ministry said they were added to the list for working for foreign media outlets and, in some cases, for allegedly spreading “false information” about the Russian electoral system. The agency did not provide evidence.

The broader charge against all seven was that, according to the ministry, they opposed Russia's war against Ukraine.

The list includes Dmitry Sukharev, a journalist for Systema – the investigative project «Nastoyaschego vremendi» and Radio Liberty – and Andrey Novashov, a freelance correspondent for Radio Liberty's Russian Service and North Caucasus Service. Both live outside Russia.

Other new «foreign agents» – Elizaveta Focht and Ilya Abishev from the BBC Russian Service, author of the Meduza publication Vladimir Raevsky, teacher, writer and blogger Dmitry Zitser and Anton Suvorkin – a video blogger covering Russian show business.

Radio Liberty President and CEO Steven Kapus, in a statement on January 31, called the journalists' entry the latest evidence of a «brutal attack» Russia on Independent Media:

«Despite the Kremlin's attempts to criminalize freedom of speech at home and abroad, our brave journalists will not be intimidated».

Three correspondents from «Nastoyaschego Vremya», the Russian-language television and digital network of Radio Liberty – Iryna Romaliyska, Oleksiy Prodayvoda, and Oryna Fedorovych were designated as «foreign agents» earlier in January 2025.

«Nastoyaschee Vremya», Radio Liberty's Russian service, and several other Russian-language news services of RFE/RL were given this status in 2017.

Russia introduced the label «foreign agent» in 2012 and has since expanded the legislation surrounding this designation. Kremlin critics, human rights activists and Western governments say Moscow uses it as a tool to persecute independent journalists, media outlets, activists and civil society groups.