Kremlin labels independent news outlet Mediazona 'foreign agent' — for 2nd time
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Russia added Mediazona to its "foreign agents" list a second time, the independent news outlet reported on Aug. 21.
ZP LLC, the legal entity through which Mediazona was founded in 2014, was added to the "foreign agents" list in 2021, but it was later liquidated in 2024.
Russia's Justice Ministry accused Mediazona in a statement on its website on Aug. 21 of "disseminating unreliable information" about the full-scale war against Ukraine.
Mediazona has been working with the BBC Russian service to compile and maintain a list of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale war. As of April 2026, they have been able to identify nearly 240,000 soldiers' deaths.
The independent media outlet has also reported on issues like the rise in violent crimes committed by Russian soldiers at the front and in the rear.
Pyotr Verzilov, a co-founder and former publisher of Mediazona, told the Kyiv Independent that the designation only "adds power to the incredible reporting that the Mediazona team is doing" and that it is a "double recognition of the amazing influence Mediazona has on exposing the Russian state."
Mediazona was also co-founded by Pussy Riot members Nadia Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina after their release from prison for an anti-Putin protest performance in a Moscow cathedral, as Russian authorities began intensifying their crackdown on public dissent.
Russia's "foreign agents" registry has become a tool for the Kremlin to target and try to silence dissent, particularly among independent journalists, activists, and NGOs critical of Kremlin policies.
