WASHINGTON — Russia’s Justice Ministry on Friday added more journalists to its list of so-called foreign agents, including reporters for Voice of America, Current Time and the BBC.
Six journalists were named to the registry, including Ksenia Turkova, who works for VOA’s Russian language service in Washington, and Iryna Romaliiska, who works for Current Time, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty program in partnership with VOA.
Others designated by Russia include Anastasia Lotareva and Andrey Kozenko, who work for BBC Russian; Alexandra Prokopenko, a journalist and research fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin; and Anton Rubin, a journalist at exiled media outlet Ekho Moskvy, who is also the director of a nongovernmental organization that helps orphans.
Authorities use law to target critics
Russia’s foreign agent law came into effect in 2012. Since then, say watchdogs, it has been used by authorities to target groups and individuals who are critical of the Kremlin. Hundreds of media outlets, journalists and civil society groups have been listed by the Justice Ministry.
Those named as foreign agents have to mark any online content, even personal social media posts, as having come from a foreign agent, and to share financial details. Failure to comply can lead to fines or even imprisonment.
Both VOA and its sister network RFE/RL have been designated as so-called foreign agents. Turkova is the first VOA journalist to be named individually.
In a statement, VOA director Mike Abramowitz said that VOA and its journalists, by law, provide “a consistently reliable and authoritative source of news around the world.”
“We stand with our journalists who often face repercussions for providing this vital public service and we remain committed to ensuring that audiences can access the vital content that VOA provides,” he said.
Turkova told VOA that she considers the designation by Russia a “meaningless label.”
“For the authorities, it’s a synonym for ‘traitor,’ ‘enemy of the people,’ ” she said. “For those whom the Russian authorities are targeting, it’s, in general, an empty sound, a word that means absolutely nothing.”
Previously, Turkova worked in Ukraine, where she reported on Russia’s occupation of Crimea, the war in Donbas and repressive actions by Moscow.
Since moving to Washington, Turkova said, “I continued to write and speak about the topics that I consider very important. First of all, it’s the war in Ukraine. It’s repression in Russia and it’s the role of propaganda.”
Current Time’s Romaliiska said she did not care about the designation.
“This only means that the Current Time channel is working great, that our team is doing a good job, which is what we will continue to do, regardless of any lists and statuses,” she told Current Time.
30 journalists behind bars
Russia has a dire media freedom record, ranking 162nd out of 180, where 1 shows the best environment on the World Press Freedom Index.
It is also a leading jailer of journalists, with 30 behind bars, according to data released Thursday by the Committee to Protect Journalists, or CPJ.
The report noted that as well as the high number of journalists in custody, Russia in 2024 “took its transnational repression to new levels.”
Foreign correspondents and Russian reporters in exile faced in absentia arrest warrants or sentences. The CPJ report described the action as “an intimidatory tactic,” adding that it “serves as a chilling illustration of Moscow’s determination to control the narrative of its war in Ukraine.”
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