The Ministry of Justice included Radio Liberty on the list of “undesirable” organizations, according to the department’s website. The Prosecutor General’s Office made this decision on February 2, the register says.
Before this, Radio Liberty and its regional branches were already on the register of “foreign agents.” Since 2021, Russian courts have fined Radio Liberty more than a billion rubles. Most of the fines, 988.5 million, were imposed by the courts due to the lack of “foreign agent” labeling.
In addition, the editor of Idel.Realii, Alsu Kurmasheva, is in a pre-trial detention center in Tatarstan. Her case became the first known case of prosecution under Part 3 of Article 330.1 of the Criminal Code (refusal to register as a “foreign agent”). Later, according to Tatar-inform, Kurmasheva was also charged under the article on military “fakes” (207.3 of the Criminal Code).
In addition, on the eve of February 19, the Odintsovo City Court of the Moscow Region ordered compulsory psychiatric treatment for 19-year-old Maxim Lypkan. He was accused under an article about military “fakes” because of an interview with Radio Liberty.