Russian: Lawmakers Advance Legislation That Would Crack Down on Dissent

Russia's lower house of parliament on Dec. 23 passed a series of updates to an existing controversial law on so-called "foreign agents," expanding the list of people and groups that can be designated; banning those with the label from holding various government jobs; forcing them to mark "foreign agent" on various documents and requiring media outlets to note the designation whenever mentioning them; and prohibiting them from financing public events in Russia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported....