The Ministry of Justice included “Fair Elections” and “Irkutsk Union of Bibliophiles” in the register of media “foreign agents”. Both organizations are associated with the Golos movement

Ministry of Justice expanded a list of media outlets – “foreign agents”, including two organizations at the request of individuals announced by foreign agents. The register included Honest Vybory LLC and the Irkutsk Union of Bibliophiles Foundation for the Development of Book Culture. Among the founders of legal entities are natural persons-foreign agents who participated in the “Voice” movement announced by the foreign agent.

The Irkutsk Union of Bibliophiles was created by Aleksey Petrov, the curator of the Golos movement in the Irkutsk Region (announced by the media as an “foreign agent” as an individual). LLC “Honest Vybory” has 18 founders, previously included in the register: Arkady Lyubarev, Vladimir Zhilkin, Vladimir Zhilinsky, Sofia Ivanova, Inna Karezina, Polina Kostyleva, Alexander Lyutov, Ilya Pigalkin, Mikhail Tikhonov, Artem Vazhenkov, Alexander Gresev, Andrey Gusev, Vladimir Egorov, Veronika Katkova, Ekaterina Kiltau, Vitaly Kovin , Alexey Petrov, Sergey Piskunov.

According to the law, individuals who are declared foreign agents in Russia must create a legal entity.

The All-Russian public movement for the protection of voters’ rights “Golos”, to which the founders of “Honest Elections” and “Irkutsk Union of Bibliophiles” are involved, monitors the elections. 18 August Ministry of Justice introduced “Voice” in the register of “foreign agents”.

The decision of the Ministry of Justice of November 19 to replenish the list of media-“foreign agents” commented on co-chairman of the “Voice” movement Grigory Melkonyants. He noted that the Irkutsk Union of Bibliophiles was created back in 2005. “The Ministry of Justice did not look at the date of its creation and decided that this legal entity was created in pursuance of the law on foreign media agents,” Melkonyants added. According to him, the law obliges to notify about legal entities previously established by “foreign agents”, but it is not assumed that they will be “automatically” included in the register of media “foreign agents”.