Russia to further tighten rules on earnings of 'foreign agents', lawmaker says

MOSCOW - Russian lawmakers want to stiffen even further the rules governing the income received by those deemed "foreign agents" to include almost all forms of property, the speaker of the Russian parliament said on Friday.

Russian law requires any person or organisation receiving support from outside Russia or who is under foreign influence to register as a "foreign agent", a label that has negative Soviet-era connotations and brings onerous bureaucratic requirements.

Russia says the law is less strict than the 1938 U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act, though the Russian law has been applied to almost all of the leaders of the divided opposition and is considered by some dissidents to be a badge of honour.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the speaker of the lower house of the Russian parliament, said the Duma was seeking to toughen the rules even further than initially proposed.

Initially, the proposal was to force all "foreign agents" to use special rouble accounts for earnings from intellectual activity - including any brands, works of science, literature and art, performances, broadcasting, inventions and trademarks.

Lawmakers want to go further still, Volodin said.

Additional proposals would require a "foreign agent" to transfer all income from the sale of property, vehicles, any income from renting them out, interest on deposits and dividends to the accounts too.

The second reading of the legislation is set for Dec. 17, Volodin said.

Supporters of President Vladimir Putin say the "foreign agent" law is necessary to counter Western attempts to meddle in Russia's domestic affairs, amid what Putin casts as a proxy war in Ukraine between Russia and the West.

Opponents of Putin say the law is part of an intricate system of repression that has turned Russia into a brittle authoritarian state, stifling legendary Russian artistic and scientific creativity.

(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)