Moscow authorities reject protest rally against ‘foreign agents’ law

The Moscow Mayor’s Office has rejected an application from the Journalists’ and Media Workers’ Union to hold a protest rally opposing Russia’s “foreign agents” law. According to the Telegram channel Avtozak Live, city hall’s Regional Security Department cited the ban on holding public gatherings imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic as the reason for turning down the application.

The Journalists’ Union applied to hold a rally on Moscow’s Pushkin Square on September 4. Several State Duma deputies, including Sergey Mitrokhin, offered to conduct meetings with voters on this day to discuss issues surrounding freedom of the media.

In turn, the Journalists’ Union announced a meeting of journalists, media workers, and lawyers set for September 2, to discuss ways to protect press freedom and “agree on collective action.”

• On August 21, the independent television channel Dozhd (TV Rain) and the investigative outlet iStories were designated as “foreign agents,” along with seven iStories journalists. These are the fifth additions to the Russian Justice Ministry’s “foreign-agent” registry in the past four months.
• The next day, Russian journalists held a series of solitary pickets outside of the FSB headquarters in downtown Moscow, to protest independent media outlets being designated as “foreign agents.” Twelve demonstrators were detained. Most of them were released shortly after being written up for violating the regulations for holding rallies.