On September 19, Russia’s Ministry of Justice added Z-blogger Roman Alekhin, a former adviser to the governor of the Kursk region, to the foreign agents register.
According to the ministry, Alekhin took part in distributing messages and materials produced by foreign agents to an unlimited audience. The ministry also said he spread false information about decisions made by Russian public authorities and their policies, as well as false claims aimed at creating a negative image of Russian servicemen.
Alekhin himself called the designation absurd in his Telegram channel. He said he had never received foreign funding, had been listed in Ukraine’s Myrotvorets database, and was under personal sanctions imposed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Apparently, we will have to say goodbye to helping the front, because working with money will now create too many problems. By the way, perhaps someone also disliked the fact that the communications system we introduced was being supplied to the front too actively and that our forces were becoming much stronger,” the blogger wrote.
Alekhin also said that he had been engaged exclusively in supporting the front. After the Justice Ministry’s decision, he began adding the mandatory foreign-agent disclaimer to his posts.
The blogger blames Kursk region governor Aleksandr Khinshtein for what happened.