MOSCOW, December 9 (RAPSI) – The lower house of Russian parliament passed a bill envisaging that individuals engaged in political activities or collection of information in the military-technical sphere may be granted the foreign agent status if receiving financing from abroad in the first reading on Wednesday, according to a statement on the State Duma website.

The respective amendments are to be made as to a federal law setting enforcement actions to be used with respect of persons involved in violations of basic human rights and liberties of citizens of the Russian Federation. The changes are to include the introduction of a mechanism for the registration of physical persons taking part in political activities within the territory of the Russian Federation in favor of foreign interests, and (or) purposefully gathering certain important intelligence in the sphere of military and military-technical activities of the state.

The list of such data is to be determined by a federal executive body responsible for ensuring of security, an explanatory note to the bill reads.

The proposed amendments are to include a provision banning such persons from taking state and municipal offices, as well as access to state secrets.

The draft law envisages that a notification regime, similar to the current legal regulations pertaining to nonprofit organizations functioning as foreign agents, is to be introduced with respect to public associations carrying out their activities in the territory of the Russian Federation without the state registration, which receive financing from abroad for purposes of participation in political activities. The information contained in such notifications is to be used to make a register of unregistered public associations functioning as foreign agents.