The fourth meeting of the Commission on the Investigation of Foreign Interference in Russia's Internal Affairs was held on Friday, September 27.
Vasilii
Piskarev
Vasily Ivanovich
, opening the meeting, said that there were four questions on the agenda, including the results of the investigation into broadcaster Deutsche
Welle, establishment of facts of interference by foreign media outlets, as well
as meddling by Google and Facebook in the Russian elections and an invitation
to a meeting of the Commission of representatives of the Russian media to consider the results of investigative reports on the facts of the external interference.
The Commission, according to Vasilii Piskarev, found evidence that Deutsche Welle, which had published information containing calls to take part in unauthorized demonstrations in Moscow, violated a number of Russian laws — “On Meetings, Rallies, Demonstrations, Marches and Picketing”, “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection”, as well as “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right of Citizens of the Russian Federation to Participate in a Referendum,” that clearly prohibits campaigning and the distribution of any campaign materials by foreign legal entities.
Following the meeting of the Commission, Vasilii Piskarev said that calls for participation in unauthorized demonstrations posted on the company’s Twitter account were reviewed by independent expert-linguist, who verified the conclusions of the Commission.
In addition, the Commission found evidence of violation of anti-extremist legislation in a number of publications of the media, in particular, on the North Caucasus, as Adalbi Shkhagoshev
Shkhagoshev 
Adalby Lyulevich , a member of the Commission, had earlier drawn attention to that fact.
According to the parliamentarian, signs of justification of extremism were also found in Deutsche Welle publications on a blogger who had called for violence against children of law enforcement officers and was convicted under article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The parliamentarian said that the Commission will send the investigation materials ”firstly, to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Federal Security Service, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs and Roskomnadzor with request to take appropriate measures, including bringing to account by administrative means for violation of electoral legislation and legislation on countering extremism, as well as to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take a decision on further accreditation.“
”Secondly, we will send materials to the Ministry of Justice of Russia with an appeal to include Deutsche Welle in the list of media performing the functions of a foreign agent. We believe that these proposals are justified and equal to the measures taken by the Western countries to suppress the rights of Russian media, such as Russia Today, Sputnik, and are aimed at protecting the national interests of the Russian Federation,“ said Vasilii Piskarev.
The decision of the Commission was unanimously supported.
The meeting participants also discussed possible facts of meddling in the Russian elections by Google and Facebook. Due to the fact that Facebook does not have a representative office in Russia, and the local Google division does have autonomy to take decisions, the Commission decided to send questions to the management of these corporations.
Vasilii Piskarev named the publications of Current Time, Meduza, BBC Russian Service, MBK Media and Radio Liberty among other media outlets which materials the Commission will continue to review. He noted that it is too early to speak about further decisions.
Parliamentary hearings
The Commission is ready to propose to the State Duma to initiate holding of large international parliamentary hearings “Fair Partnership” on issues of foreign interference for all interested parties — accused and those who accuse. This was stated by Adalbi Shkhagoshev.
“More and more states are concerned of the issue of interference in internal affairs: Russia, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, China, and the countries of the Middle East. The statement of the Speaker of the Chinese parliament on the US interference in China’s internal affairs made in Moscow once again confirms the magnitude of this problem,” he said.
“It is obvious that this is not a problem of a single state, an Internet corporation, but it is an issue of an international level and international politics. It should be addressed at this level together, not separately,” stressed the parliamentarian.
