Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (known as RFE/RL) indicated on Thursday that an American journalist from the Russian authorities had been accused of not registering as a “foreign agent”.
On Thursday, Edgar Matevosyan, a journalist, Alsu Kurmasheva ' s lawyer, confirmed in a text message that the Investigation Commission of the Russian Federation (Investigative Commission) had brought charges against Alsu Kurmasheva under the provisions of Russian criminal law regarding registration as a foreign agent. The Federal Investigation Commission is the main federal investigative body in Russia.
According to the provisions of Russian criminal law, if a person is found to have “intentionally collected information relating to military or military technical activities in the Russian Federation which is obtained by a foreign party and may be used to undermine the security of the Russian Federation”, they must submit the necessary documents to the so-called registry of foreign agents.
On Monday, Kurmasheva, who had dual United States and Russian citizenship, was formally arrested by the Sovetsky District Court in the Russian south-western city of Kazan. She was requested to remain in pretrial detention until at least 5 December. RFE/RL states that if convicted, Kurmasheva may face imprisonment for up to five years.
Matevosyan indicated on Thursday that he had appealed on behalf of his client Kurmasheva against his detention. He states that it is not clear when the appeal will be heard.
Kurmasheva is a journalist for the RFE/RL Tatar-Bashkir group based in Prague. According to the media, she was initially detained in Kazan on 18 October.
Kurmasheva is the second American journalist detained in Russia this year. In March this year, the 32-year-old journalist The Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, was detained in the course of an interview. Gšković was detained on charges of espionage, but he himself, the Wall Street Journal and the United States Government categorically denied this allegation. On 10 October, a Russian court upheld the decision to extend Gšković ' s pretrial detention until at least 30 November.
RFE/RL receives funding from the United States Government. According to the company, the Tatar-Bashkir group and eight other branches were designated as foreign agents in 2017.
Kurmasheva is not among the dozens of RFE/RL journalists designated by the Russian Government as foreign agents. However, according to the company, Russian criminal law now provides for self-registration as a foreign agent if Russian citizens are involved in “targeted collection” of information that, once provided to foreign informants, could endanger Russia's national security.
The company said: “This provision is formulated very broadly and even individuals who collect public information may be required to register as foreign agents”.
The detention of Kurmasheva triggered condemnation by the international community, including from various European Governments, the United Nations and press freedom advocates.
The U.S. Department of State described the detention of Kurmasheva as another case of harassment of Americans. The United States Department of State stated that consular visits to Kurmasheva had been requested, but that the request had not been granted.
According to RFE/RL, Kurmasheva, the mother of the two children, travelled to Russia on 20 May for urgent family matters. She was temporarily detained while awaiting a return flight on 2 June.
It claims that the authorities seized the United States and Russian passports of Kurmasheva. She was subsequently fined for failing to register a United States passport with the Russian authorities. In August 2014, Russian citizens who had the nationality of other States were required to report.
RFE/RL states that Kurmasheva has been banned from receiving visits or from telephone calls with family members.