The Human Rights Council found no violations in the fact that the TV channel “Dozhd” was recognized by the media as a “foreign agent”

The Human Rights Council under the President of Russia did not find violations in the recognition of “Dozhd” as a media “foreign agent”, said the head of the HRC Valery Fadeev. About it informs TASS.

“We received an explanation from the Ministry of Justice, there were many questions, there was a certain discussion. If we talk about the law [о СМИ-иноагентах], then the law is fully complied with, we did not find any violations of the law regarding the inclusion of the Dozhd TV channel in the register of foreign agents according to two criteria. The first criterion is the dissemination of information, publications created by media “foreign agents”, the second criterion is the receipt of funding from abroad. Unfortunately, both of these criteria are valid, so the Dozhd TV channel is included in the register of foreign agents, ”Fadeev said.

On August 23, a meeting of HRC members and representatives of the department was held at the Ministry of Justice, at which it became known that the channel was included in the register of media “foreign agents” at the request of Roskomnadzor due to the dissemination of “materials created by other foreign agents.”

On August 20, the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation turned on the Dozhd TV channel and the Internet publication Important Stories, registered in Latvia, in registry Mass media – “foreign agents”.

The list also includes the editor-in-chief of “Important stories” Roman Anin and other journalists of the publication: Alesya Marakhovskaya, Irina Dolinina, Roman Shleinov, Dmitry Velikovsky and Olesya Shmagun. The former head of the Yakutia – Our Opinion organization, Stepan Petrov, has also been added to the register. He also headed the regional branch of the national public organization For Human Rights. Both organizations were disbanded back in March.

The Dozhd TV channel is part of the media holding of the same name. Previously, he broadcast on the air, and since 2014 – only on the Internet. The editor-in-chief of Dozhd, Tikhon Dzyadko, said that the channel was not notified of its entry into the register of media “foreign agents”.

On the air of the TV channel Dzyadko said that “Rain” works in accordance with all the norms of Russian legislation. Anyone can find a document with financial statements on the channel’s website and understand that Dozhd does not receive any foreign funding, he stressed.