The bill was introduced in July 2012 by legislators from the governing United Russia party and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on 20 July 2012. Once registered, NGOs are subject to additional audits and are obliged to mark all their official statements with a disclosure that it is being given by a “foreign agent”. The foreign agent label russian ngo foreign agents registration barriers for an NGO in Russia.

This includes restrictions on foreigners and stateless peoples from establishing or even participating in the organization. A NGO must then submit to extensive audits. Supervisory powers are allowed to intervene and interrupt the internal affairs of the NGO with suspensions for up to 6 months. Once labeled as foreign agents, organizations are obliged to mark all their publications and to begin each oral statement with a disclosure that it is being given by a “foreign agent”.

It also limits the way a foreign organization can make tax-exempt donations to specific people or the NGO by requiring them to register and be placed on a very limited list of approved organizations. Some NGOs report curtailed access to government officials and public institutions and continued harassment. NGO raids have been reported as being accompanied by television crews from state TV channel NTV. A Justice Ministry report obtained by the Russian business daily Vedomosti in May 2016 said criticism of the “foreign agents” law qualifies as political activity under the “foreign agents” law. On 4 June 2014, an amendment to the “foreign agents law” came into force, authorizing the Ministry of Justice to register independent groups as “foreign agents” without their consent, if the ministry regards the organizations as engaged in “political activity” and if the organization is receiving foreign funding.