The Ministry of Justice explained the inclusion of Rosbalt * in the register of «foreign agents» by the fact that the agency received a money transfer in the amount of 90 thousand rubles from the analytical center «Sova» ** for renting a conference room. This is stated in the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow, Mediazona* drew attention to it.
“From Rosfinmonitoring, the Ministry of Justice of Russia received information that [Rosbalt] received foreign funding in January 2020 from the Regional Public Organization Sova Center, included in the register of NGOs acting as a foreign agent, received the amount for organizing the conference. RPO Center SOVA is the recipient of funds from foreign sources,” the decision says.
In addition, the ministry explained the recognition of Rosbalt as a “foreign agent” by the fact that the agency in its publications referred to the media, which previously included in the list of “foreign agents” are Voice of America*, Kavkaz.Realii*, Sever.Realii*, and Current Time TV*.
Screenshot: Radio Liberty*
And also the Ministry of Justice “revealed the facts of the agency’s participation in the creation of foreign media materials” — for example, political scientist-orientalist and Rosbalt columnist Mikhail Magid commented on what is happening in Iran on Radio Liberty *. Similarly, the agency allegedly took part in the publications of the Kavkaz.Realii and Krym.Realii publications*.