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February 3, 2025 MEMRI Daily Brief No. 706

In Russia, If You Have The 'Wrong Views,' You Become A Foreign Agent – An Enemy Of The People

February 3, 2025 | By Elvira Vikhareva*
Russia | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 706

"18+ THIS MATERIAL (INFORMATION) WAS PRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED AND (OR) SENT BY FOREIGN AGENT VIKHAREVA ELVIRA VLADIMIROVNA OR CONCERNING THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT VIKHAREVA ELVIRA VLADIMIROVNA"

The word "foreign agent" has become firmly established in our language since the mid-2010s. Old-timers will remember how the media for a long time did not know how to illustrate news about this once-new concept. The main picture was a crooked spray-painted inscription in the office of the Russian human rights organization of a "foreign agent" with a heart and the addition of the U.S. Of course, they did not find any hooligans in those herbivorous times, and they did not really look for them.

The story with the picture, by the way, is indicative. The law itself in its first iteration, which applied only to non-profit organizations, was adopted back in 2012, after the suppression of protests caused by the return of Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin.

The speed of the reaction is indicative: Russian civil society has not yet come up with any way to resist this status.

After 2012, it gradually expanded. In 2017, it was allowed to declare media outlets as foreign agents, in 2018 – specific people. As a result, all these gradations became unnecessary – and now there is a single list of enemies of the people, which includes everyone without distinction – individuals and legal entities, as well as abstract entities like "unregistered projects."

What does this status mean in practice? In fact, it is a civil penalty.


Elvira Vikhareva

"To Become A Foreign Agent, You Do Not Need Any Court Decisions Or Evidence"

Initially, it was about providing voluminous reports and marking all texts with "foreign agent" labels. It was expensive and humiliating, but it allowed us to live. But in 2024, the State Duma of the Russian Federation once again tightened the legislation.

Now foreign agents are deprived of the opportunity to carry out real estate transactions, earn money through intellectual work (all income of this kind goes to a special account, from which they can only be written off to pay various fines), and any government agencies shy away from them as they would from those sick with the plague.

What began under the slogan of "ensuring transparency in financing" turned into what it could not help but turn into – the eradication of internal enemies.

Who are they? There are several obvious groups.

These are human rights activists, environmentalists, journalists, LGBT activists, oppositionists, and cultural figures. The same applies to organizations.

There are exceptions to this list – but rarely and, as a rule, they are connected with some personal revenge against specific people or specific officials.

After all, in order to become a foreign agent, you do not need any court decisions or evidence.

It was earlier that the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation came up with foreign financing, such as, for example, transferring some 200 rubles ($2) from a neighboring country (of course, such a transfer could be done simply "with the help" of the officials themselves).

But gradually the Ministry of Justice got tired of disgracing itself with each new funny case of such fictitious financing. And changes were made to the law, according to which it turned out that simply "wrong views" were enough. That is, if you do not share the policy of Vladimir Putin, you automatically become a foreign agent – an Enemy of the People.

You did not support the war, you did not agree with the president, you had your own opinion – and that is enough. These are the criteria behind the vague formulations of the Russian Ministry of Justice, which it now uses to justify the inclusion of people in the list of foreign agents. Yes, Stalin's "enemy of the people." Brezhnev's "dissident." Or more simply: a dissident.

Anyone Can Turn Out To Be A Foreign Agent At Any Moment

Most foreign agents prefer to leave Russia or are already outside of it. Living with this status inside the country is almost impossible, since the organization that hires a foreign agent exposes itself to a barrage of checks and pressure from the state.

Unfortunately, it is no easier for foreign agents abroad than for other Russians. This status does not give any advantages when emigrating or seeking asylum.

At the same time, it is very easy for a foreign agent to become a criminal. It is enough not to mark your message twice with a shameful weasel – like the one that begins this article. Be sure to do it in all caps. And that's it – you are a criminal. Up to five years in prison. My badge looks like this:

"18+ THIS MATERIAL (INFORMATION) WAS PRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED AND (OR) SENT BY FOREIGN AGENT VIKHAREVA ELVIRA VLADIMIROVNA OR CONCERNING THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT VIKHAREVA ELVIRA VLADIMIROVNA"

There is also an exotic aspect to such criminal cases: a person did not realize in time that he was an enemy of the people, did not report it – and will also be punished. Naturally, the opportunities for state arbitrariness here are enormous, but this is what it was all invented for.

There is no definition of what "foreign influence" is, except for one thing: the same old dissent.

By the way, there is no need to think that foreign agents live in harmony and oppose Putin together. Everyone has their own views, their own ideas, and they swear inside no less than any other people. So there is no organized resistance, no "trade union of enemies of the people."

All the more effective are the repressions and fear that the Putin regime instills in the people. Anyone can turn out to be a foreign agent at any moment, from the organizer of film screenings in a small Russian town to the former owner of Yukos, a super-rich man. In this, Putin has made everyone equal.

I Was Declared A Foreign Agent On April 21, 2023

But how do people in Russia live with such a status, and most importantly, how do they survive being discriminated against?

I will tell you from my own example.

I was declared a foreign agent on April 21, 2023. From the documents of the department in the Ministry of Justice, I learned that the status was assigned for the following reasons: "Vikhareva distributed materials created by foreign agents and negative information about the activities of Russian government bodies, received support from foreign sources." By the way, after a dozen court hearings, the court still has not shown me proof of receiving funds from abroad.

By the way, based on what was written above, you already understand that proof is not required here. It is quite enough to be in opposition to Putin.

My protest activity began long before I was assigned the shameful status (back in 2017).

At that time, I already had quite a lot of experience in participating in political campaigns – both in a personal capacity and as an organizer of mass-political events.

The beginning of restrictions on a full life in Russia came through the impossibility of finding a job despite a presentable resume and two advanced degrees.

One of the prestigious state corporations, having reviewed my biography, refused, explaining that they do not need people waving flags, and in general, if they have a portrait of Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) on the wall, I am definitely not on the same path with them.

After I received my "foreign agent" status, oddly enough, I was invited to teach at the university.

I passed all the interviews without any problems, but soon after I started working, I was called to the security department. A menacing man in a didactic tone said that "foreign agents" and traitors had no place at their university. As a result, I was fired.

There have been about a dozen such refusals over the past few years. I provided for my family's continued existence with my personal savings. As you understand, any savings sooner or later run out.

It became quite difficult to survive.

Due to health problems and, as a result, huge expenses, I became a person who is not averse to any part-time job.

Even Hobbies Are Forbidden To Us

Today, my day begins in an interesting way: from four to eight in the morning I work as a loader in a hypermarket, unloading groceries on an equal basis with men.

I have had nothing to be ashamed of for a long time; that is how life has turned out.

After the night shift smoothly turns into the morning, if possible I allow myself a couple of hours of sleep, and then, from 2 pm to 9 pm, I work as a taxi driver.

Since the total income from such work is extremely low, in addition, I got a job as a courier.

And recently I became an unwitting witness as my shift worker discussed a treatment plan with someone on the phone. I thought that someone was sick, sympathized with him and hurried to ask what happened. It turned out that this person works as a doctor. Since his family does not have enough money, he got a job as a loader.

For me, this was not surprising: The work of doctors, teachers, and all those who choose the social sphere in Russia, is extremely poorly paid.

In the courier service, I encounter teachers, engineers, completely different people, who, like me, are tested for strength by the state. If foreign agents in Europe receive grants for survival, then people with such status in Russia can be out of work for several years and live on par with migrant workers.

I know for sure that all contracts with "foreign agents" are terminated. Ordinary people looking at this in Russia, those who want to help us, do not dare to provide financial support, since donations to a foreign agent are fraught with state repression against those who donate.

Some of my colleagues in the country worked in the field of education and journalism for most of their lives, but having received the status of "foreign agent" understands that now the law prohibits any journalistic-teaching activity.

Other "foreign agents" are trying to monetize their hobby: they try to promote their activities, start a personal telegram channel, where they post posts that are absolutely not related to politics. However, after a short time, such people are fined without trial or investigation under the "foreign agent" article for the content in such a channel. That is, even hobbies are forbidden to us.

The status affects not only my "fellow sufferers," but also our families. Someone tried to get a job in a company with the aim of increasing the family's income and moving up the career ladder, they passed all the interviews, but at the very last moment they were turned away – the security services refuse. I will not talk about the psychological pressure in society. This is a separate, bitter topic.

We Must Somehow Resist

The law on "foreign agency" is boundless in the strength of its discrimination. In my opinion, this is a direct "descendant" of Stalin's laws on enemies of the people. Refusals of constitutional, civil rights, in particular, in work can come from anyone, from security forces to some personal ill-wishers.

It is painful to see the torment, ordeal, and despair of people in our country (and I am no exception), the ordeal of those who are able to distinguish white from black. It is depressing that people have long since become expendable material for the Russian authorities. People under the yoke of repression give up. And we get a cornered, frightened society.

As they say, oil is not asked for approval to make gasoline out of it.

The life and fate of a person in Russia has long been the new oil for the authorities.

Nevertheless, we must somehow resist, because tyrants respect only those who walk upright. They finish off the weak. We should all remember this.

*Elvira Vikhareva is a renowned Russian opposition politician based in Russia. In 2023, she was poisoned with heavy metal salts.

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