Natalia Taubova, the director of the Public Verdict Foundation, received a threatening letter from a professional informant Anna Korobkova. The human rights activist disclosed this information on her personal VK page on November 20.
In the letter, Anna Korobkova threatened Taubova with reporting to the Ministry of Justice over the involvement of foundation expert Asmik Novikova in a Radio Liberty broadcast. Korobkova imposed a 5-day deadline for Taubova to confirm that Novikova would cease collaboration with media labeled as foreign agents. Should the director of Public Verdict refuse, Korobkova intends to report her to the Ministry of Justice and request her designation as a foreign agent.
“I really like this law, and I constantly monitor media branded as foreign agents, identify their recurring experts, and bring them to the attention of the Russian Ministry of Justice,” wrote the informant.
Anna Korobkova's name appears in over 1,300 reports against people who disagree with the authorities. After an application under her signature had been submitted, authorities drew up a protocol against the head of the Yekaterinburg Memorial Alexei Mosin, and MSU associate professor Mikhail Lobanov was included in the register of foreign agents at Korobkova’s request.
The media project “Advokatskaya Ulitsa” (“The Lawyer Street”) previously interviewed Korobkova. The individual, possibly operating under an alias, declared her goal as the elimination of all foreign agent media in Russia. The informant claims that, as a result of her actions, 14 Russians were fined, 6 were dismissed by their employers, and the Russian media watchdog Roskomnadzor blocked 3 websites, including the portal of the Moscow Helsinki Group.
