29 September 2025

Lutfiye Zudiyeva on Her Life as a “Foreign Agent” in the Occupied Peninsula

Lutfiye Zudiyeva is a Crimean Tatar journalist and author for the “Graty” portal. She resides in temporarily occupied Crimea and covers human rights violations against the Crimean Tatar people on the peninsula. In her materials, the journalist reports on the persecution, detentions, arrests, and illegal investigation methods used by Russia.

On May 16, 2025, by a decision of the Russian Ministry of Justice, Zudiyeva was included in the list of “foreign agents.” She became the first journalist in Crimea to be assigned this status. Lutfiye Zudiyeva learned about this from acquaintances. “I found out about it not from official institutions, but from dozens of messages and calls. When I picked up the phone, I saw a flurry of links to the news about my inclusion in the register,” she shared.

Lutfiye believes that being assigned the “foreign agent” status was provoked by her proactive journalistic stance and is based purely on the prejudiced attitude towards Crimean Tatars by the occupation administration. She attempted to appeal the decision to include her in the register of “foreign agents” and filed a lawsuit against the Russian Ministry of Justice, but it was rejected.

“I have no illusions that I will be excluded from the list. But it was important for me to show that I do not agree,” Lutfiye Zudiyeva emphasized.

The “foreign agent” status now significantly impacts not only her professional work but also her personal life. She must label all her publications with a special disclaimer, even if it is just a photo of a landscape, and submit activity reports every three months. Additionally, Lutfiye Zudiyeva, a teacher by education, faces restrictions on teaching: she is banned from working at any school or university. For her, the “foreign agent” status means not only administrative limitations but also the risk of criminal liability.

Lutfiye Zudiyeva stresses that despite everything, she continues her journalistic and human rights activities. The activist does not plan to leave Crimea and continues her usual life on her native peninsula.