Russia classifies SPIEGEL columnist Mikhail Zygar's organization as undesirable

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SPIEGEL columnist Mikhail Zygar

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Dominik Butzmann / DER SPIEGEL

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has classified the XZ Foundation as an "undesirable organization," as Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoi writes on Telegram.

The Russian SPIEGEL columnist, author and journalist Mikhail Zygar founded the foundation in 2023 to combat Russian propaganda.

It is now banned in Russia.

Lugovoi wrote on Telegram: "According to the results of the review organized by the Prosecutor General's Office at my request, "XZ gGmbH" was recognized as an undesirable organization in Russia.

Consequently, all members of the organization will be held accountable under Russian law for causing harm and treason." He accuses the foundation and its founders of "rewriting history, humiliating Russian identity, changing the cultural code of the victorious nation and to develop a sense of guilt for the actions of their ancestors."

The German government-backed XZ Foundation describes itself on its website with the words: “Our mission is to burst Putin’s propaganda bubble with culture, art and human values.

We don't think the Russian people are the problem, but the regime and its cruel and manipulative methods." The foundation's projects include the YouTube channel Great Russian Villains, an animated video series, and Memes against war, a digital art gallery .

Lugovoi's application to the Prosecutor General's Office appears to be dated a few days after the launch of Zygar's book "War and Punishment: Ukraine's Long Struggle Against Russian Oppression."

Lugovoi recently announced: "Anyone who tries to harm his homeland, his country and his citizens will lose everything and die like a dead dog there, outside our country."

The statement can be interpreted as a direct threat against Zygar and his colleagues Ilya Khschanovsky and Maya Stravinskaya.

Zygar has lived in Berlin since 2022.

From 2010 to 2015 he was editor-in-chief of the independent Russian television channel Dozhd and published numerous books.

After the Russian attack on Ukraine, he initiated an online petition against the war, and shortly afterwards he left the country.

Chrschanowski and Stravinskaya also no longer live in Russia.

Lugovoi is held responsible for the murder of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Litvinenko died in London in November 2006 after being poisoned with radioactive polonium.

A British judge concluded in 2016 that the murder was an operation by the Russian secret service FSB, which was probably approved by Russian President Putin himself (read more about the case here).

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