Russia fines a ‘foreign agent’ who supposedly took Big Pharma's money to criticize domestic insulin

Russia meted out justice to another devious foreign agent on Wednesday, when a Saratov district court fined Ekaterina Rogatkina 50,000 rubles ($800) for administrative offenses committed as the head of a local organization that helps diabetics. In late May, a court designated Rogatkina’s former employer, the Saratov Regional Social Organization for Diabetics, as a “foreign agent.” The fine is only half the minimum penalty for this crime, but Rogatkina’s lawyer says she nevertheless plans to appeal.

In late May, a court fined the Saratov Regional Social Organization for Diabetics 300,000 rubles ($4,850) for violating Russia’s regulations on “foreign agents.” Last year, a local university student filed a complaint against the group, and prosecutors argued that it received 715,000 rubles ($11,550) from foreign pharmaceutical companies to stage conferences that criticized Russia’s domestic production of insulin. The authorities determined that this constituted “political activity.”

Russia’s law on foreign agents applies to any organization that accepts money from abroad and engages in so-called political activity. The Justice Ministry currently designates 76 foreign agents, including several human rights groups like Memorial, Golos, Agora, and others.

Beginning in 2017, the Russian government gained the right to recognize mass media outlets as foreign agents.