Russian lawmakers want to punish foreign election meddlers

Lawmakers in the State Duma are planning to introduce amendments that would again expand the reach of the so-called “Dima Yakovlev law,” which the government passed in 2012 to authorize measures against people allegedly responsible for violating Russian citizens’ rights.

The law itself was a response to the U.S. Magnitsky Act, which imposed visa restrictions on Russians believed to be involved in human rights crimes. The latest revisions to the Dima Yakovlev law would allow officials to target “foreigners who interfere in Russian elections.”

A lawmaker who helped write the new legislation says it would allow officials to outlaw any foreign organization that is found guilty of interfering in Russia’s elections. The State Duma apparently plans to target American and British organizations most of all. “These countries are legally allocating billions of dollars to interfere in our political life and our elections, and it goes unpunished,” deputy Mikhail Emelyanov told the news agency Interfax.

Russian officials have used the Dima Yakovlev law to prohibit American families from adopting Russian children, to ban “political activity” by nonprofit institutions receiving funding from the U.S., and to outlaw activities by nonprofits that “threaten Russian interests.”