MOSCOW, Russia: Russia on Friday named veteran human rights campaigner and head of the Nobel Prize-winning Memorial Group, Oleg Orlov, a “foreign agent”.
The country has branded hundreds of independent journalists and activists as “foreign agents” in recent years as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent.
Russia’s justice ministry said in a statement Orlov “opposed the special military operation in Ukraine, disseminated false information about decisions taken by public bodies of the Russian Federation, [and] participated in the creation of messages and materials for foreign agents”.
Orlov, 70, was fined in 2023 for “discrediting” the Russian armed forces – one of the new censorship laws Russia has introduced to stifle criticism of its offensive in Ukraine.
His organization Memorial was the most prominent and respected human rights group in Russia in the decades after the fall of the Soviet Union.
It made a name for itself by fighting to preserve the memory of the victims of communist repression and campaigning against rights violations related to Russia’s brutal wars in Chechnya and beyond.
It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, months after Russian authorities outlawed the group in a sweeping crackdown on independent civil society.
Russia’s Supreme Court ordered its dissolution in December 2021, weeks before Moscow launched a military campaign against Ukraine, after finding it had violated the Foreign Agents Act.
Its closure was seen as a clear example of how far political freedoms and human rights have been suppressed in more than two decades under President Vladimir Putin.
Despite the pressure, and after tens of thousands of anti-Kremlin fighters fled the country, Orlov remained in Russia and tried to appeal against the ruling that he had “discredited” the Russian armed forces – winning support in court from Nobel Prize winner for literature Dmitri Muratov in court hearings.
The label “foreign agent” carries Soviet-era espionage connotations and is designed to cut off groups and individuals from their funding and support in Russia.
Individuals designated as foreign agents are required to file financial reports with the Department of Justice and mark all their communications and public statements with a lengthy disclaimer.
