Russian man who declared himself a ‘foreign agent’ as a joke now faces criminal charges

A Russian man who declared himself a “foreign agent” as a joke in 2023, has had a criminal case opened against him for his failure to observe the rules he is now required to follow due to his foreign agent status, he told Russian independent news outlet Podyom on Monday.

Marat Nikandrov, a 21-year-old blogger from the Moscow region, was summoned for questioning by Russia’s Investigative Committee on Monday. He told Podyom that the charges for violating the “foreign agent” disclosure regulations related to a video message to his followers that he posted on his Telegram channel in which he failed to declare that was a “foreign agent”, as legally required, and for his subsequent failure to submit reports detailing his activities and declaring his foreign income to the Justice Ministry.

This is the first and so far sole case of a person appearing in the government’s registry of “foreign agents” after submitting their own details to the Justice Ministry. Nikandrov was declared a foreign agent in November 2023, when he was just 19.

Nikandrov told Podyom that he had sent in his details “for a laugh” and to “test drive the system”. He subsequently attempted to have himself removed from the list of “foreign agents” but the Justice Ministry denied his request, Telegram news channel Ostorozhno Novosti reported on Monday.

“This is no laughing matter now. It’s got very serious. When I was 19, I set a precedent by asking for this for myself. The consequences are now so terrible that I’m afraid of what the future holds,” Nikandrov told Ostorozhno Novosti.

Russian broadcaster RBC reported on Tuesday that Nikandrov had admitted his guilt while being interrogated on Monday, had requested leniency from the authorities and had been instructed not to leave the country.