RFE/RL: The Russian Justice Ministry has expanded the list of so-called “foreign agents” to include a foundation of Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny and other human rights and health-care organizations, the head of the international human rights group Agora said on December 25. Pavel Chikov said on Telegram that Navalny’s Foundation for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights was among those added to the list. The Justice Ministry at the same time refused to exclude Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) from it. Navalny announced the closure of the FBK in July after a court ordered the organization to pay 88 million rubles ($1.2 million) over a lawsuit filed by a food company associated with businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin. But FBK’s brand has survived although its texts, graphics, and other materials posted on its site now belong to the Foundation for the Protection of Citizens’ Rights, according to the FBK website.
RFE/RL: Police in the Russian Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk have detained at least 19 people who were participating in a demonstration in support of the region’s jailed former governor, activists say. The OVD-Info group, which monitors police activity, said on December 26 that the protesters were detained during a small demonstration against the July arrest of former Governor Sergei Furgal on charges connected with several murders from more than a decade ago. Several dozen protesters braved temperatures far below freezing to gather in front of the regional government office in Khabarovsk and then march through the center of the city. It was the 169th day of protests since Furgal’s arrest and his transfer to Moscow.
