The recent tendency to use “soft power” and Internet propaganda in the face of geopolitical competition, as a well as the analysis of the international experience in restricting foreign influence on the nonprofit sector, as on a sphere for the formation of public opinion and a mechanism for the articulation of a socially significant agenda, again made relevant the question of refining the legislative mechanisms for regulating the activities of organizations acting as foreign agents in Russia.

There is a general need to improve legislation, in order to ensure public accessibility to information about the foreign financing of nonprofit organizations, public associations, and politically active persons associated with them. This is especially important in not allowing foreign interference in elections and election campaigns.

Protecting sovereignty in this context supposes increased responsibility of the press when acting as foreign agents, and the refinement of the legal regulation of the activities of foreign NPOs, public assоciations acting without being registered as legal entities, and citizens participating in political activity in Russia on behalf of foreign sources.

In this matter, Russian legislation and law enforcement practices should take into account the experience of other countries. The Civic Chamber held a series of public hearings, within the framework of which, among other things, an analysis of regulating the activities of foreign agents in foreign countries was conducted, and the relevant tendencies in its implementation were considered. The most striking examples are the law currently in force in the USA about the registration of foreign agents (FARA), and the modernization of legislation in this sphere in Australia, India, Israel, and France. Moreover, legislation in numerous “democratic countries” is notable for the extremely tough demands it makes of foreign agents, and the severe penalties in the case of their not being met. The Civic Chamber draws attention to the inexpedience of repeating a negative foreign experience. At the same time, general approaches and legal tools adopted abroad could be used, on condition of their being adjusted and implemented to take into account the development specifics of the Russian society.

In this connection, measures, supposed in planned Federal Law No. 1057914-7 “On Amendments to Individual Laws of the Russian Federation Concerning Additional Measures to Oppose Threats to National Security”,90 may be considered truly relevant. These measures suppose the introduction, by analogy with the legislative regulation of the activity of NPOs acting as foreign agents, of a notification requirement for the registration of public associations acting in the Russian Federation without government registration and receiving foreign finance to take part in political activity. A register will be established of unregistered public associations acting as foreign agents. Materials produced and distributed by NPOs and unregistered public associations shall have appropriate markings.

It was proposed to introduce this kind of registration mechanism for private persons participating in political activity in Russia on behalf of foreign sources and/or deliberately collecting specific significant intelligence on the government’s military and technical activity. These people must not take positions in government or municipal services, or have access to state confidential information.

Also, the Civic Chamber underlined the importance of preciseness and clarity for legislative regulation, and the impermissibility of the ambiguous and loose definition and implementation of introduced measures. It was also important to viably ensure constant monitoring of the judiciary, with the aim of detecting and preventing unjustified decisions by the competent authorities, including their regional offices.

It was especially important to ensure this while forming an understanding of “political activity”. Representatives of socially oriented NPOs and charity funds voiced concerns about the possible “wider” definition of the understanding in practice, which might lead to conscientious citizens not involved in political activity being accused of as acting as foreign agents. In order to prevent this, it was proposed to rule out the classification of activity in science, culture and art, as well as in specific socially significant areas (for example, activity in health care, social care, social services for the people, physical activity and sport, charity work, etc.) as political.

A researcher, including a representative of an educational or scientific organization, may be invited to a foreign symposium, to participate in an international project with foreign financing, or to receive a research grant. Obstacles to work in this area must not be permitted. Considering the importance of developing international cooperation in science and education, the Civic Chamber also reviewed planned Federal Law No. 1057895-791 “On Amendments to the Federal “On Education” in the Russian Federation” (with regard to the introduction of public awareness activities). The bill defined public awareness activities and was aimed at staving off the use of the education system: to stir up social, racial, national or religious discord; to propagandize people’s exclusiveness, superiority, or inferiority based on social, racial, national, religious, or linguistic affiliation, or their attitudes to religion, including via the communication of false information about the historical, national, religious, or cultural traditions of peoples; and to provoke actions contradictory to the Constitution of the Russian Federation. In this connection, it is worth noting that the bill was based on constitutional demands and aimed at protecting the fundamental constitutional constructions of Russian nationhood: civil accord, traditional family values, and respect for the deeds of our ancestors.

Despite the regulation of public awareness activities in the bill being proposed in the context of the functioning of the education system, a number of experts expressed concerns about the lack of clarity in the implementation mechanism for the bill, proposing to project a separate federal law for the complex regulation of questions connected with the realization of public awareness activities. In the context of discussing the bill, the Civic Chamber noted that the administrative mechanisms of the regulation of public awareness activities, the definition of which it was planned to refer to the competence of the Russian Government, must absolutely be organized in a manner convenient for educational organizations and participants in public awareness activities, so that the new law does not create barriers to international cooperation and collaboration. The Civic Chamber will participate in the provision of this as an institution of public oversight.

This kind of logic is also fair in relation to other socially significant areas, where socially oriented NPOs and charity funds traditionally work effectively. In particular, it is necessary to maintain conditions for the development of international cooperation and such directions as art and culture. Our art is popular abroad. For example, our theatre and musical groups, and exhibitions by large museums tour many countries successfully. As part of such projects, there are various forms of help and assistance provided for our cultural organizations. As a rule, political figures, regional leaders, and mayors speak at the opening of such festivals, though it is clear that this is not political, but international cultural activity.

Teamwork and joint research in medicine is difficult to imagine today without international cooperation, the importance of which was underlined by the pandemic. Good examples are the World Health Organization and other similar-level programs which are playing an ever more important role in the solution of global health-related problems.

During the pandemic, our civil society, business, and government worked efficiently together, including in the social support of the people. Without doubt, the experience gained this year must be used for the further development of best practices in the social support of the population, and it is important not to allow the creation of additional barriers. Restrictions must not affect sport and physical exercise. Most sports are integrated into international federations and other similar structures, which presupposes continuous collaboration, both organizational and financial.

Taking into account the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, which stated that the status of a foreign agent must not cause discrimination in any given right,92 the Civic Chamber proposed not to approve the article of the bill which prescribed to deprive NPOs acting as foreign agents of their right to nominate candidates for the public councils under federal executive authorities. This was proceeding from the fact that public oversight in Russia was regulated by a separate law and detached from the political system (especially not permitted was the participation of political parties in nominating candidates to public oversight departments).

One more sphere, which recently saw the need to rethink existing threats and the experience of opposing them, was the provision of information sovereignty.

In recent years, the Internet became a universal space for communication and vital activities, and pretty much the main sphere of socialization for the youth. At present, Runet’s audience is 96.7 million users, which is 79% of the country’s population. Today Russians get access to the largest part of internet traffic via their mobile phones,93 and 90% of Internet users in Russia use the Internet every day. The way of information consumption changed, with ever more people taking their news from the Internet. This creates both possibilities and risks, because apart from verifiable information, there is also fake news and destructive content circulating on the Internet. Just like other countries, Russia is actively fighting for the “purity” of the Internet, its liberation from wrongful information, and the protection of its information sovereignty.

During the new coronavirus pandemic, false reports circulating on the Internet might put people’s lives and health in serious danger, not to mention forming of space for the activities of fraudsters. In 2020, numerous items of fake news about the coronavirus and the single voting day demonstrated that at the moment, unprincipled disseminators of information were taking minimal responsibility for misleading Internet users, and the sense of impunity would lead to an increase in false content. It would be productive to introduce special programs capable of recognizing fake news and its disseminators. With the aim of opposing various forms of provocation and fakery, it was also proposed to introduce changes to the general school program Health and Safety course, setting aside 1 hour for the study of media literacy. A serious strategic solution would be deanonymization in social media, followed by increased legal accountability for the creation and dissemination of fake news.

In this context another sphere was also very important – opposition to the recently heightening censorship of foreign IT platforms with regard to Russian citizens and press. A glaring example of such censorship was the blocking of Alexander Rogatkin’s film “Beslan” by the video hosting service YouTube, which is owned by Google. This policy of the western IT giants with respect to Russia is a double standard. The Civic Chamber and Roskomnadzor searched YouTube and found over 3,000 clips of extreme content in open access, with no restrictions or labels. Moreover, YouTube ignored appeals by Roskomnadzor to delete the content. At the same time, over 200 accounts of the Russian press, journalists, and natural persons were deleted from the platform without any explanation.94 Western IT companies violated not only the rights of Russian citizens, but also Russian press laws concerning the inadmissibility of censorship. The Civic Chamber supports proposals concerning a stricter policy towards such companies as Google for the relevant government structures. In this connection, the initiation by Roskomnadzor of administrative procedure against Google LLC95 was an example of protecting information sovereignty. The Civic Chamber supports measures proposed in planned Federal Law No. 1058572-7 “On Amendments to the Federal Law “On Information, Information Technology, and the Protection of Information” and the Federal Law “On Sanctions against People Involved in Violating People’s Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, and the Rights and Freedoms of Citizens of the Russian Federation”.96 These measures were designed to guarantee the rights of citizens to free access to, and search and distribution of, information, and the introduction of the status of owner of an information resource involved in violating people’s fundamental rights and freedoms, and the rights and freedoms of citizens of the Russian Federation, as well as demanding rectification of violations committed by them.

© Pavel Suhov/shutterstock.com

In the further adjustment of the government regulation of legal relationships with foreign Internet platforms, it is necessary to define and clarify the criteria for the evaluation of violations, and the order for administrative procedures concerning the owner of the information resource. It is also extremely important that superfluous demands are not made of the owners of information resources, and it is important to preserve and provide the opportunity to realize the fundamental information rights of Russian citizens.

In order to protect information sovereignty, it is first necessary to develop Russian online resources and services, and simplify means of receiving useful information for Russian residents. Citizens’ access to socially significant resources must be free whenever possible. The Civic Chamber supports the idea of providing free access to socially significant Internet resources, free of advertizing, for Russian citizens registered in a portal for government and municipal services, even when they have no money in their accounts.97 Information security in contemporary life is one of the most important elements of the system of national security as a whole. The Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation consistently supports the access of Russian citizens to verified data, and the noncensorship of Russian press content by foreign companies.