The Russian authorities perfectly understand that after the introduction of the notation "foreign agent" those who read my columns on DW, listen to Radio Liberty and watch the channel "Now", they will not become the audience of "First Channel" with the words: that's how, and we did not know! Yet the rest are experiencing two emotions to the media that came under fire: hatred or total indifference. The second majority. Malakhov's audience is hardly seriously interested in Crimea, Trump, Navalny. Of course, sooner or later she will be interested in this, but then, as historical practice shows, it will be too late to pass any laws, - Konstantin Eggert writes in the column on "Snob. en ".

Immediately make a reservation, compare the prohibitions with the Soviet, of course, does not make sense. Then the enemy voices muffled, I could not read the Times newspaper, unless I took it in the special library of the Foreign Languages ??Library. Today we are offered a different story. A story about a Russian state that never forgives offenses to its opponents - real or imaginary.

The task of this law in another. There are three important aspects here.

The first: to make the life of foreign media organizations even more difficult than it is. With the "stigma" of a foreign agent it is more difficult to obtain accreditation, to organize trips around the country and to agree on an interview. Such small pettiness.

Second. Law - signal to the population. The signal means: the power monitors who thinks what, and considers it possible to remind about what opinions from it, the state point of view are correct, and which are not. And if you want to continue reading and listening to "wrong" opinions, then you know: we all see. Nothing passes without a trace.

The third aspect, the most important. The hatred of Brussels, hated by Washington and other hated Western capitals, is made clear: we do not leave our own, in the person of Margarita Simonyan. This is the classical position of the Kremlin, which is always afraid of one thing: to show oneself weak and not to respond with a blow to the blow. The only exception confirming this rule: Putin's reaction to the expulsion of Russian diplomats at the end of last year. But then the calculation was simple - it was an attempt to establish a relationship with the then-incoming Trump administration. President Putin likes to show his generosity, but this time - in response to actions against RT - he decided to act differently.

Like many other laws passed by the Russian authorities, this one is like a baseball bat lying in the trunk of a car.

In democratic countries, laws operate according to the principle: either to all, or to no one. Baseball bat works differently - it gets out of the trunk at any convenient moment and beat the one who at that moment needs to be beaten. She can not beat all the hated - Western media will be allowed to work in Russia - but at any convenient moment it will get.

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