MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill banning foreign agents from running in Russian elections.
The corresponding document was published on the official legal information website on Wednesday.
The law augments the law on basic guarantees of electoral rights and the right of Russian citizens to participate in a referendum with a clause which says that "a candidate is obliged to terminate foreign agent status by the time of their submission of the documents required for registration of a candidate or a list of candidates."
The clause will apply to elections of federal, regional, federal territory, and local self-government.
According to the law, "a registered candidate cannot be listed as a foreign agent."
"If a statement of consent to run in a respective electoral district identifies the candidate as a foreign agent, the candidate must present to the electoral commission" the Justice Ministry's notice of exclusion from the foreign agent register or the corresponding court order, alongside other documents required for registration, the law said.
The office of individuals on the foreign agent register as of the day of the law's entry into force shall be terminated ahead of time unless they are excluded from the foreign agent register within 180 days of the law's entry into force, it said.
The law bars Russian citizens designated as foreign agents from running for the Federation Council. A person nominated for the State Duma, including as a member of a federal candidate list, must terminate the foreign agent status by the time the documents are submitted to the elections commission. The law envisages early termination of mandates of Federation Council members or State Duma members if they are designated as foreign agents.
Foreign agents, as well as people listed as associated with an extremist or terrorist organization, cannot serve as observers in Russian elections. Foreign agents and the listed individuals cannot represent candidates or election blocs or be campaign members.
The law also envisages that during elections of state bodies of Russia's constituent entities, public authorities of a federal territory and local governments, the maximum limit of expenditures from electoral funds which could be made before the registration of a candidate or a list of candidates stands at 30% of the maximum limit of expenditures from electoral funds established by law. At the same time, federal laws would determine the maximum limits of expenditures from electoral funds which could be made before the registration of a candidate or a list of candidates.