On Friday, Russia’s Justice Ministry added former chief diplomat Andrei Kozyrev to the country’s “foreign agent” registry. Kozyrev was the head of Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry from 1990 to 1996, serving with President Boris Yeltsin during Russia’s tumultuous early transition from Soviet Communism.
The ministry said it targeted Kozyrev for spreading “false information” about Russia’s actions abroad, specifically the invasion of Ukraine, which Kozyrev has denounced. Officials also noted that he “engages with foreign platforms and resides outside the Russian Federation.”
In its “foreign agent” designations, the Justice Ministry also blacklisted columnist Nikolai Epple; former member of Moscow’s Public Monitoring Commission and human rights activist Anna Karetnikova; Ukrainian journalist Darya Schastlivaya; and the socio-political movement “Udmurtia Against Corruption.”
