helping to evacuate over 250 LGBTQ+ people from Chechnya ahead of its rumored purge of gay men, has, along with five layers, been labeled as “foreign agents” by the Kremlin’s Justice Ministry.
This designation comes with new accounting burdens and administrative procedures, including the need to preface official communications with a warning about the label.
The intent is to stigmatize the group, a method that has proven effective in the past as several independent media groups were forced close when the foreign agent label led advertisers to no longer associate with them.
The Kremlin, however, says the label is just to help identify groups that are receiving “foreign funding” and engaging in “political activity.” The Russian LGBT Network.