Authors

Discussion

This paper examines the environment of uncertainty and fear that was created by Russia’s Foreign Agents’ law(s) and how it was experienced by those working in the human rights sector between 2012 and 2022. The broad scope of the law combined with the uneven, selective enforcement, allowed the law to act as a ‘sword of Damocles’, a threat of danger hanging overhead. The atmosphere of fear extended beyond the offices of human rights organisations, into shared spaces and homes, of both actual and potential targets of the law. Analysis of interviews conducted in Tbilisi in 2022 and online through 2023 sheds light on the effectiveness and efficiency of the Foreign Agents' law's impact on the human rights sector.