Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the conclusions about the allegedly repressive nature of Russian regulation of the status of foreign agents do not correspond to reality, TASS reports.
“There will be no repeal of the law on foreign agents. If it is canceled, the Western partners will have a complete sense of impunity both in terms of pressure on the Russian media abroad and in participation in political life through their agents of influence on Russian territory”, she said.
The diplomat noted that the next attempts of the State Department structures to manipulate reality look extremely incompetent. Zakharova recalled that the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) adopted in the United States in 1938 was intended to counteract Nazi Germany from influencing political decisions in America. But with the end of World War II, this law was not canceled and was subsequently used “as a tool to fight foreign media, whose agenda contradicts the views of the local establishment”.
“Russia was forced to adopt a law similar in meaning, but different in content, as a response to the announcement of Russian media outlets in the United States as foreign agents and the presentation of unreasonably strict requirements to them”, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman recalled.
Zakharova also stated that the conclusions about the allegedly repressive nature of the Russian regulation of the status of foreign agents are not at all true.