The Ministry of Justice of Russia excluded Arkady Lyubarev and Lyudmila Kuzmina from the register of media outlets acting as a foreign agent. These are two well-known election observers. Lyubarev told the BBC what he relied on in his statement, demanding that he be stripped of his “foreign agent” status.

“This decision was made on the basis of applications for exclusion, as well as documents received from authorized state authorities,” the ministry said in a statement.

The register of media-“foreign agents” has been replenished since December 2017, since December 2020 it began to include people – journalists, human rights activists, activists.

Kuzmina was added to the list on September 29 last year. This is a human rights activist from Samara, coordinator of the “Voice” movement, which is engaged in election observation and was also recognized in Russia as a “foreign agent” (but fell into a different register).

Political scientist Lyubarev is considered one of the most respected experts in Russian electoral law. He got into the register of media “foreign agents” on the same day as Kuzmina. He is a board member of the Voice.

Lyubarev said he learned the news about the removal from the register from a BBC correspondent.

“Three months ago, I applied to the Ministry of Justice for deletion [from the register] – on the grounds that I had no foreign funding for the last year,” he said. “The trick is that the law does not provide for this, but the procedure written in the law on non-profit associations, and I relied on it.”

“I was probably one of the first to submit such an application, after me several more people filed it, so soon, apparently, there will be decisions on them,” continued Lyubarev. “I know that [submitted applications] a few more people from” Vote”.

So far, the procedure for leaving the register of “foreign agents” has not been specifically prescribed for individuals – the law only states that they are subject to the rules provided for by the law on NGOs.

In April, Russian parliamentarians initiated an update of the law on “foreign agents”, among other things, they are going to clarify the same approach. Firstly, “foreign agents” will be able to apply to the Ministry of Justice, except for them from the register, if they did not receive foreign funding during the previous year and did not fall under other “foreign influence.” Secondly, they can do this if they have ceased to engage in political or other activities, which constitute the second mandatory condition for being recognized as a “foreign agent.”

The last time the register of media-“foreign agents” was replenished was last Friday, April 22. It included eight people, including the editor-in-chief of the Ekho Moskvy radio, which was closed after the start of the war in Ukraine, Alexei Venediktov, journalist Sergei Parkhomenko, and publicist Alexander Nevzorov. Two more people ended up in a different register – public figure Vladimir Kara-Murza and Alexei Navalny’s ally Leonid Volkov were included in the list of individuals – “foreign agents”.