Putin Signs Expanded Foreign Agents Law

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a series of new laws on Monday tightening restrictions on individuals and organizations deemed “foreign agents.” The legislation expands the definition to include anyone—minors included—who collects military-related information on behalf of foreign states and introduces harsher penalties for promoting positions aligned with nations deemed hostile to Russia.

Since 2022, Russian authorities have arrested numerous individuals—both Russian citizens and residents of territories in Ukraine that Moscow now claims sovereignty over—for allegedly collecting sensitive military information and passing it to Ukrainian contacts.

According to Russian officials, many of those detained were recruited by individuals working on behalf of Ukraine, often in exchange for money. The cases typically involve documenting troop movements, military infrastructure, and other strategic data.

The new laws also bar foreign agents from working in education and from holding roles in state-owned enterprises. Foreign agent status can also now be applied to individuals assisting in the implementation of policies made by international bodies that Russia does not recognize or that act counter to Russian security interests.

A further restriction for those labeled as foreign agents will be a ban on receiving financial aid from local municipalities, previously, they were only banned from receiving money from the government.

These measures follow a broader trend of countries introducing or strengthening foreign agent laws. In the past two years, Kyrgyzstan passed sweeping legislation that led to the closure of NGOs linked to billionaire philanthropist George Soros, while Georgia recently passed their own law amid widespread protests.

Although the U.S. has long had its own robust Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), Washington has regularly criticized other countries for enacting similar laws, which usually affects Western-backed opposition in these countries.