The Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 has become a hot topic in 2017, with high-profile Washington actors from Paul Manafort to Tony Podesta to Michael Flynn facing accusations they violated the law — a crime that historically has resulted in few prosecutions.

Under intensifying pressure from the Department of Justice, which oversees enforcement of FARA, Russian website and television channel RT America announced it would register as a foreign agent last Thursday. “Our lawyers say that if we don’t register as a foreign agent, the director of our company in America could be arrested, and the accounts of the company could be seized,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan claimed in a statement. “In short, in this situation the company would not be able to work. Between those consequences and registering as a foreign agent, we are forced to choose registration.”