Russia lists Deutsche Welle as a "foreign agent"

A statement can be found on the ministry's website. On February 3, Russian authorities had banned DW from broadcasting and announced that they would initiate proceedings declaring DW a "foreign agent."

Today's decision was made "on the basis of documents available to authorized state authorities," the ministry's statement said. No further details were given.

DW Director General Peter Limbourg: "This latest, arbitrary decision by the Russian authorities was unfortunately to be expected. It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media. It started with the forced closure of our studio in Moscow at the beginning of February, then our website in all languages was blocked in Russia. There then followed the gradual restriction of social media services and now DW has been labelled a 'foreign agent.' This will not stop us from continuing to provide comprehensive and independent coverage of Russia and the region from our new studio in Latvia and from Germany. We will have to put a lot more effort into censorship circumvention tools in the future. This includes VPN clients like Psiphon or the Tor browser, which we already use."

Christian Trippe, DW Director of Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe: "The Russian government has clearly declared an information war on DW, as it announced in early February as part of the retaliatory measures in response to the ban on RT DE. We journalists continue to do our work and provide reliable information for our target audience in Russia."

Register of "foreign agents" includes more than 100 media organizations and individuals

More than 100 media organizations and individuals are currently registered as "foreign agents" in Russia. Among them are the state-funded U.S. foreign broadcasters Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Russian-language news portal Meduza based in the Latvian capital Riga, and the independent Russian broadcaster Doschd.

The Russian foreign agents law dates back to 2012 and originally applied to nongovernmental organizations that receive financial support from abroad. In December 2019, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new version that expanded the legal definition of who can be considered a foreign agent.

Once individuals or organizations are considered foreign agents, they must indicate that status in all publications, including posts on social media. They must also file financial statements and reports on their activities with the government every six months and undergo annual audits.