.Authorities in Russia on Friday designated a Grammy-winning pianist, a priest that helps Ukrainian evacuees and also a previous Soviet spy as "foreign agents," the current update to Moscow's expanding list of people it deems as foes of the state.Hundreds of cultural bodies, journalists, businessmen, and also information channels and also associations, have been actually branded "overseas brokers"-- which carries unfavorable Soviet-era connotations-- since Russia launched the legislation in 2012.The Russian Justice Department's most recent enhancement to the "overseas agents" checklist consists of world-renowned performance pianist Yevgeny Kissin, Apostolic Orthodox Congregation priest Grigory Mikhnov-Vaytenko and ex-KGB police officer Yuri Shvets. Dmitry Tsibirev, who served as an organizer for the overdue Kremlin doubter Alexei Navalny in the Saratov region, was additionally named a "foreign broker" on Friday." Kissin opposed the special army function in Ukraine, joined fundraising events on behalf of the Ukrainian armed forces, including as component of his touring tasks, and also moved funds to them," the ministry mentioned.Mikhnov-Vaytenko, at the same time, was actually indicted of spreading "artificial information" regarding the Russian authorities as well as giving interviews to "overseas agent" media.Shvets, who delivers discourse on Russia's battle in Ukraine for his popular YouTube channel, was indicted of advising countries that are actually "hostile" to Russia to improve "illegal activities" versus Moscow. Since the 1990s, the former spy has stayed in the United States, where he stores citizenship.Russia administers the term "international representative" to individuals it considers traitors and opponents of the state, and calls for all those designated to signify their publications with a lengthy please note. People branded as "international agents" are additionally required to send strenuous monetary records to the Justice Ministry.Independent media has actually mentioned that the lot of illegal instances against "overseas representatives" in Russia greater than multiplied in 2023 compared to the previous year..Russian authorizations have moved to further secure legislation targeting "overseas agents" in current months.