Arkady Lyubarev, an electoral expert, and Lyudmila Kuzmina, a voters’ rights activist from Samara, have become the first two people excluded from the ‘media foreign agents’ list, according to the Ministry of Justice website.
“This decision was made on the ground of requests made by the complainants, as well as documents received from state authorities,” the ministry’s website says.
Kuzmina was added to the list in late September. She has observed elections in Samara and other cities of the Volga region for many years. A Samara court halted the Ministry of Justice decision in late December after she appealed her addition to the list.
It was at that time when Arkady Lyubarev, an electoral expert and a board member of Golos, an organisation aimed at protecting the electoral rights of citizens and fostering civil society, was included to the list. The Ministry of Justice explained his inclusion by stating that he received a 20,000 rubles (€260) wage from Meduza for his publications. Meduza itself was not declared a ‘foreign agent’ at the time he had received the money.
