New Law Puts Russian Scholars who Publish Abroad at Risk of Being Classified as ‘Foreign Agents’

Paul Goble

            Staunton, February 25 – A Russian law passed in December that went into effect this month specifies that scholars who publish their work abroad or even on the Internet may now be classified by the government as “foreign agents,” a major extension of the 2012 act that has led to the harassment and closure of many NGOs, the Center for Independent Social Research says.

            It is as yet unclear how many Russian scholars have voluntarily come forward or have been classified that way by the authorities, Darya Skibo says. No statistics have yet been published, but this measure (rg.ru/2019/12/04/smi-dok.html) clearly will have a chilling effect on many (russian.eurasianet.org/россия-иностранных-агентов-станет-больше).

            On the one hand, the St. Petersbur sociologist says, the new legislation explicitly excludes non-political publications in scholarship and should not be applied to those who publish in them. But on the other, the Russian authorities have an elastic definition of what is political and may extend it at will. The new law at a minimum increases this risk.

            Supporters of the law say it will touch only a handful, the Center for Independent Social Research scholar says (duma.gov.ru/news/46944/), but many Russian scholars are worried given how often the authorities have used the charge against NGOS the regime doesn’t like or wants to intimidate (kommersant.ru/doc/4171502).

            According to one survey in 2017, only about 2.6 percent of Russian scholarship is financed by foreign sources (gks.ru/folder/14477) and so that basis for this charge should affect only a very few people, Skibo says. But she adds that “the chances Russian scholars and instructors have to become foreign agents are not so small.”

            Many Russian universities and research institutes cooperate with Western centers, and those who work for them could easily fall under this rubric. And the number of Russian scholars who use international media, including the Internet, could put an even larger group at risk of being labelled a foreign agent and suffering as a result.

            Kirill Titayev, a legal specialist at St. Petersburg’s European University, says that this expansion of the foreign agents law will give investigators yet another way to pad their success rates as it will be quite easy to show that this or that scholar received foreign money or used foreign sources (dw.com/ru/как-работает-в-россии-новый-закон-о-сми-иноагентах-и-кого-он-касается/a-51957814).

            Others have reached a similar conclusion, Skibo continues (dw.com/ru/норма-о-признании-физлиц-иноагентами-вступила-в-силу-в-рф/a-52223324); and one can hardly disagree with Ilya Shablinsky, a lawyer who is on the Presidential Council for Human Rights, that this measure is blatantly unconstitutional (newtimes.ru/articles/detail/188161).

            Unfortunately, in Putin’s Russia, that is hardly a limiting factor.