Russian propagandist Sergey Markov designated as “foreign agent” by Russian Justice Ministry

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–Article last amended: Aug 23 at 10:51:07 UTC (history)

This article requires pre-publication review by an uninvolved reviewer (one not substantially involved in writing the article).

–Article last amended: Aug 23 at 10:51:07 UTC (history)

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Sergei Markov pictured in 2015.
Image: PascalHD.

On Friday, 22 August, Russia’s Justice Ministry, as usual, expanded its list of “foreign agents”. What was unusual was that a prominent Russian propagandist was included in the list.

Sergey Markov, former Member of Russian Parliament, who served as a trusted spokesperson for Vladimir Putin in 2012, when he was running for president, and now political analyst, was designated as “foreign agent”.

According to Agents.Media (Агентство. Новости), Markov became one of the main translators of the position of Russian authorities during the Russian invasion into Ukraine. He was cited in the publications of The New York Times and Bloomberg about Kremlin.

In the aftermath of designation, Markov wrote the following:
“I am not a foreign agent, and everyone knows it perfectly well. For 25 years, I have supported and continue to support Vladimir Putin’s policies. I am also under Canadian sanctions. This attack against me is being carried out by enemies of Russia and by enemies of Vladimir Putin’s policies. Sooner or later, these people will reveal themselves as traitors or will be removed from office as corrupt officials.”

He said that “mistake” happened.

In June, Markov, along with first deputy director of Russian state-owned news agency TASS Mihail Gusman participated in mediaforum in Azerbaijan, amidst deteriorating relationships between Azerbaijan and Russia. Both Markov and Gusman praised Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliev, with Markov saying that Aliev is “brilliant intellectual”. Subsequently Gusman was fired from his post, which he held since 1999. Markov’s words draw ire from Russian bloggers. For instance, Alexander Koc accused him of using “totally Azerbaijan narrative”.

Support of Azerbaijan is the most likely reason of Markov being proclaimed “foreign agent”.

Marko also participated in streams with jounalists designated as “foreign agents”, such as Alexey Venediktov.

Ironically, Markov supported measures against so-called “foreign agents” and criticised them, as well as famous Russian culture figures who left Russia after its illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Laws about “foreign agents” were approved in Russia in 2012, and allow to brand non-commercial organisations “foreign agents”, if they are financed from abroad and do “political activity”. The criteria which define such activity are not strictly defined, which enables the persecution of organisations that work in the fields of education, healthcare, culture, ecology and human rights. It has become instrument of repression in Russia, with many Putin critics labelled this way. Russian authorities used the “foreign agents” law as a legal pretext to close down groups, such as the human rights group Memorial, Nobel Prize co-laureate.