Pressure on journalists

Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.

• Main risks: working with 'undesirable' outlets (284.1 CC, up to 4 years), breaking the foreign-agent law (330.1 CC), army 'fakes' (207.3 CC), unlawfully obtaining state secrets (283.1 CC).
• Warning signs: summons to 'preventive talks', mentions in pro-government channels, surveillance, repeated border checks. Human rights groups advise consulting a lawyer straight away.
• Keep work and personal devices separate, don't keep conversations with sources in mainstream messengers, and send footage only once you're somewhere safe.
• If you've been designated a foreign agent or summoned for questioning — see the notes on those situations.
• Where to turn: Mass Media Defence Centre, First Department; if forced to leave — Reforum Help. Belarusian journalists: BAJ.

Designations of organisations in this guide: Reforum Help (undesirable). Contacting them carries a risk: do not write from a phone that may be seized, and do not repost their materials.

current as of September 25. More: First Department: guide for journalists in Russia (foreign agent); First Department: why a journalist needs a press card (foreign agent)

Draft. Compiled from human rights groups' guides but not yet reviewed by a lawyer. This is not legal advice — check the linked sources and consult a lawyer.

• The status is assigned by the Ministry of Justice and can be challenged in court. Since spring 2025 the grounds include not just foreign funding but a vague 'foreign influence'.
• A foreign agent must label all their material and file reports with the Ministry. If the status was given for media activity, a Russian legal entity has to be set up within a month.
• Under the 2025 amendments a criminal case under art. 330.1 CC may be possible after a single administrative fine. Check this with a lawyer, and do it straight away.
• Since 1 March 2025, income from renting or selling property, interest, dividends and royalties goes to a special account that cannot be used until the status is lifted.
• Foreign agents may not teach, run educational activities, organise public events or make content for children. Where to turn: Mass Media Defence Centre, First Department.

current as of September 25. More: OVD-Info: how the foreign agent law works (extremist); First Department: foreign agents' special accounts (foreign agent); Radio Liberty: what awaits foreign agents in 2026 (undesirable)