The regime for “foreign agents” is being tightened. Their accounts will become transparent to the security services without a court order

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The regime for “foreign agents” is being tightened. Their accounts will become transparent to the security services without a court order, social advertising featuring them will be banned, and they will be barred from applying to leave the register more often than once a year

Tomorrow deputies plan to pass a law on additional control over foreign agents, and the security committee has already backed the document. In the version prepared for the second and third readings, as “MO” noticed, new tightening measures have appeared.

▪️Ban on social advertising. Two key provisions are being added to the law “On Advertising.” First, the list of advertisers allowed to place social advertising is being clarified: these are individuals, legal entities, and government bodies. It is stated directly that persons included in the register of foreign agents cannot be advertisers in social advertising. Second, a direct ban is being introduced on placing social advertising on the information resources of foreign agents.

▪️Since 2024, Russia has already had a general ban on advertising with foreign agents: they are not allowed to sell advertising on their own platforms, and their resources cannot be advertised in other media. The new law introduces a separate regime specifically for social advertising. In accordance with the federal law “On Advertising,” social advertising is understood to mean information addressed to an indefinite circle of persons and aimed at achieving charitable and other socially beneficial goals.

▪️Financial data of a foreign agent — within three days. The original purpose of the bill is connected specifically to banks. The deadline for providing information in response to Justice Ministry requests about the accounts and transactions of foreign agents (and persons under foreign influence) is being reduced to three working days. Data exchange is being shifted to an electronic format: the request will be sent electronically, and the bank’s response must also come in electronic form.

▪️Leaving the register — once a year. The amendments also change the procedure for interaction with the Justice Ministry. If removal from the register is denied, a foreign agent will be able to submit a repeat application only after one year. For an individual included in the register for the first time, after the first denial the general procedure for filing new applications will apply, without any simplified procedures.

▪️Foreign agents under supervision. Another block concerns the law “On Mandatory Requirements in the Russian Federation.” Compliance with legislation on foreign agents is being explicitly included in the list of mandatory requirements, alongside norms in the tax and customs spheres. This means that the regime for foreign agents is being закрепляется as a separate area of state control with all the resulting inspections and sanctions.

▪️Plus property seizures. These changes are being layered on top of a law already approved by the Federation Council on pretrial seizure of the property of Russians who left the country under 16 “political” articles of the Administrative Code, including violations of the law on foreign agents. Frozen accounts, apartments, and cars are not tied to the size of the fine, cases can be heard in absentia, and seizures can be imposed even before trial, “MO” experts explained.

❗️The main provisions of the new law on foreign agents are supposed to come into force on the day of official publication. The bans on social advertising will begin to apply from September 1, and the new deadlines for bank reporting will take effect 180 days after publication (that is, also in September).