Russia labels ex-foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev a ‘international agent’; he calls it ‘stupidity of regime’

Vladimir Putin and Andrei Kozyrev (File picture)

Russia’s justice ministry mentioned on Friday that it has designated Andrei Kozyrev — a former international minister and distinguished critic of President Vladimir Putin — as a “foreign agent”. The Yeltsin-era minister responded to this labelling by calling it “the stupidity of the regime.”
According to Reuters, Kozyrev, 74, was the primary international minister of post-Soviet Russia, serving beneath President Boris Yeltsin within the early Nineties when the nation maintained comparatively heat ties with the West. Now residing within the United States since 2010, Kozyrev has develop into an outspoken critic of Kremlin insurance policies and Russia’s navy actions in Ukraine.
In 2022, after the beginning of the warfare in Ukraine, Kozyrev publicly referred to as on his former colleagues within the Russian international ministry to resign in protest.
The justice ministry accused Kozyrev of spreading false details about Russian authorities insurance policies and navy actions. It additionally cited his opposition to the warfare—referred to by Moscow as a “special military operation”—and his alleged collaboration “with foreign platforms.”
Responding to the transfer, Kozyrev dismissed the designation, saying it mirrored “the stupidity of the regime.”
“I am glad to join those noble people who have likewise been designated foreign agents,” he added.
The “foreign agent” label, rooted in Soviet-era terminology, carries a robust stigma and requires people to publicly establish themselves as such in all publications and on-line posts. It additionally imposes strict monetary reporting guidelines.
Numerous writers, journalists, and cultural figures essential of the warfare have confronted the identical designation in recent times.