“Deprive all sources of income”: the State Duma has prepared a draft on a complete ban on advertising from foreign agents in Russia

The State Duma has prepared a bill on a complete ban on the publication of advertisements from foreign agents.

On the morning of February 10, the chairman of the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, announced that he had received numerous requests asking why advertisements for Russian companies were still being posted on the Internet resources of foreign agents.

According to him, people are outraged by the fact that bloggers acting in the interests of unfriendly states and pouring dirt on Russia are still making money from Russian citizens.

"It is unacceptable. The State Duma is discussing a bill that proposes to prohibit citizens and domestic companies, regardless of their form of ownership, from placing advertisements on the websites of foreign agents, on their social networks and on other Internet platforms. Deputies consider it necessary to deprive foreign agents of all sources of income in our country. And for those who violate the ban, strict liability measures will be provided,” he wrote in his Telegram channel.

Volodin’s position was supported by the head of the State Duma Security Committee Vasily Piskarev.

“I completely agree: those who already have a good job, living on handouts from Russia’s enemies, should not also earn money from our citizens,” he noted.

The parliamentarian added that a bill on a complete ban on the publication of advertising in the products of foreign agents has been prepared and is now being approved: “I am confident that the public support that Vyacheslav Viktorovich is talking about will speed up the adoption of the bill!”

State Duma deputy Evgeny Fedorov, in a conversation with RT, also stated that foreign agents direct their income against Russia.

“The majority of citizens of the Russian Federation, historically, that is, based on our history and their personal families, generally have a negative attitude towards traitors, and therefore towards people who agreed to serve a foreign state against Russian interests on our territory,” he said.

Political scientist Alexander Dudchak considered the decision of the legislative branch to be correct.

“Why should people who harm Russia from abroad have very good passive sources of income in the country in which they do crap? They behave like an enemy - and the country should treat them as enemies. So that’s absolutely correct, yes,” emphasized RT’s interlocutor.

Also on russian.rt.com Rating of defaulters: foreign agents owe the budget over 12 million rubles

On February 8, Deputy Minister of Justice Oleg Sviridenko reported that the register of foreign agents contains information about 763 persons, of which 569 are active entities, including 52 non-profit organizations, 401 individuals, 39 Russian legal entities, 20 public associations operating without the formation of a legal entity. persons, 16 foreign legal entities, ten foreign structures without forming a legal entity.

According to him, the priority tasks for the Ministry of Justice in regulating the activities of foreign agents are national security and minimizing the possibilities of foreign interference in the internal affairs of Russia.

“Since the beginning of the special military operation, after the adoption of amendments to the Criminal Code, the activities of persons who have signs of a foreign agent, as well as those who are already included in the register, are carried out, as a rule, from the territories of foreign states. According to our data, more than 100 persons included in the register since December 2023 are abroad. These individuals continue to speak negatively regarding the policies pursued in our state, including regarding the holding of presidential elections in the Russian Federation in 2024,” TASS quotes him as saying.

According to the latest data, there are 764 persons on the register of foreign agents. On February 9, the company “Yolkin Cardboard”*, created by cartoonist Sergei Yolkin**, was included in it.

* The limited liability company is included in the register of persons performing the functions of a foreign agent under the article “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence” by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 02/09/2024.

** An individual recognized as a foreign agent by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated April 15, 2022.