(opendemocracy.net – Emil Pain – August 27, 2013) Emil Pain is a professor at the National Research UniversityHigher School of Economics, Moscow, and the General Director of the Center for Ethno-Political Studies. As the level of inter-ethnic violence reaches disturbing proportions, Emil Pain asks if Russia’s protest moment has turned nasty. In the middle of 2012, Russia’s influential Centre […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 22, 2013) Mass searches of NGOs across the country have helped to detect 22 “foreign agents,” a top official from the Prosecutor General’s Office said Thursday. The law, which requires non-governmental organizations that receive funding from abroad and engage in “political activity” to register as “foreign agents,” came into effect in November. In March, […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, August 14, 2013) Muscovites are more xenophobic than are Russians living elsewhere in the Russian Federation, a pattern that means that Sergey Sobyanin’s appeal to such attitudes may help him in his race for mayor of the Russian capital, according to the director of the SOVA Analytic Center. In an article in […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Marina Obrazkova, RBTH – July 15, 2013) The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has conducted a large-scale inspection of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and discovered that more than 1,800 had received financing from abroad in the last year. A law requiring NGOs involved in political activity and receiving money from abroad to register as foreign […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – July 11, 2013) Russia’s Prosecutor General Yury Chaika has claimed that non-government organizations lack oversight and are capable of undermining state interests, after revealing that three NGOs were allegedly involved in terrorist activity, while 20 NGOs violated tax regulations. Chaika’s calls for more oversight have come amid debates in wake of a […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW. July 10, 2013) The Russian human rights and educational society Memorial has dismissed Prosecutor General Yury Chaika’s statement that Memorial has set up a ramified structure in order to evade registration as a foreign agent. “Memorial (branches) emerged in many cities and consolidated into one organization on its own, and it had nothing to do with those […]
» Read more
(Interfax – July 9, 2013) Russia’s human rights ombudsman, Vladimir Lukin, has said he hopes the controversy over Russia’s “foreign agent” NGO law will subside if the legislation is amended to clearly distinguish between organizations engaged in political activity and those working on social issues, Russian privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 9 July.(1) “Everything depends on which amendments are […]
» Read more
(Interfax – July 9, 2013) Over 2,000 non-governmental organizations (NGO) operating in Russia received over 30 billion rubles since the new law on NGOs came into effect, Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said. “Since the law came into effect – since November 2012 until April 2013 – NGOs received generally (…) 30.8 billion rubles,” Chaika told Russian President Vladimir Putin. […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – Natalia Antonova – Natalia Antonova, Acting Editor-in-Chief of The Moscow News – July 2, 2013) Last week, a couple of foreign journalists I know traveled to a small town very far from Moscow in order to explore local culture and possibly write about it. Before they went, they posted an innocent question on a local forum, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – June 28, 2013) The Golos non-governmental association has paid fines imposed by court for refusing to register as a foreign agent. “We fulfilled the court ruling categorically and paid both fines imposed,” Golos Deputy Director Grigory Melkonyants told Interfax on June 27. On April 25, the magistrate precinct of Moscow’s Presnensky Court fined Golos 300,000 rubles ($9,000) and […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 28, 2013) The state roster of “foreign agents” among Russian nongovernmental organizations finally added its first entry on Thursday, a year after it was established, the Justice Ministry said Friday. The first organization to voluntarily sign up as a “foreign agent” was the Supporting Competition in CIS Countries noncommercial partnership, which had not made […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 20, 2013) Russian State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin believes it is important that society should understand that the legislation on NGOs is not restrictive in nature and the state is interested in increasing the number of NGOs and their unimpeded work. “As for NGOs, it is, of course, important that society should understand that the law […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 19, 2013) Strikingly low levels of inter-personal trust among Russians, the result of the experiences of Soviet times, explain both their xenophobic reactions to immigrants and their high rates of support for Russian leaders because “distrust in institutions is transformed into trust in the president and prime minister,” according to a […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, June 18, 2013) Russian Justice Minister Aleksandr Konovalov has not ruled out that the register of non-commercial organizations – (serving as) “foreign agents” will never contain a single entry because there is no legal mechanism to forcibly register NGOs as such. “In accordance with the law, there is a chance that the list of these foreign agents […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Emil Pain) Emil Pain is a professor at the National Research UniversityHigher School of Economics, Moscow, and the General Director of the Center for Ethno-Political Studies Does Russia’s online community have anything resembling a common philosophy? New analysis of social media suggests the only idea shared right across the political spectrum is xenophobia. Emile Pain presents the research. […]
» Read more
(Interfax – June 11, 2013) The director of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, has said that social networksand shortcomings in migration laws contribute to the proliferation of extremism in Russia. His comments at a session of the National Antiterrorist Committee were reported by the Interfax news agency on 11 June. “Part of the internet has become a […]
» Read more
(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – Boris Bruk – June 3, 2013) The principal idea that consolidates different parts of Russian society is xenophobia and intolerance to “others.” Such, at least, was the conclusion of a new study on Russia’s “ideological portrait.” IMR Advisor Boris Bruk, who has analyzed the study, is skeptical about predictions of a “fascist” future […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 29, 2013) Memorial human rights center has filed a complaint with Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court to contest the demand of a Moscow prosecutor’s office to register as a foreign agent. “Memorial states in the lawsuit that the conclusions of the prosecutor’s office on the organization’s activities are groundless and that the information, on which the request of […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 24, 2013) The Memorial international public organization in Russia is involved in political activities and is financed from the United States, a prosecutor’s office said. “It has been determined that the organization received over 52 million rubles (about $1,6 million) in 2010 from foreign citizens or people without citizenship and 40 million rubles (near $1,3 million) in […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 23, 2013) Amnesty International said Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin was marked by large-scale attacks on freedom of assembly and of expression, resulting in a large number of politically motivated criminal cases and repressive legislation. “Two new laws and 11 amendments to current legislation were made last year amid broadly weakened dissent,” head […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 21, 2013) The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday urged the European Union to abstain from “ideology-based” remarks on the issue of non-governmental organizations in Russia. The statement, posted on the ministry’s website, was made in the wake of the May 17 meeting between the Foreign Ministry’s Special Representative for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – May 21, 2013) Russia is facing a renewed barrage of international criticism, led by the European Union, over its human rights record in connection with an ongoing clampdown on non-governmental organizations and a State Duma proposal to ban so-called “homosexual propaganda.” The EU on Friday expressed growing concerns about the situation, including […]
» Read more
(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Julia Reed in Moscow – May 17, 2013) In an April 5 interview to the German channel ARD, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that in the four months after the July law on non-government organisations (NGOs) that brands those that accept donations from aboard as “foreign agents” has been adopted, 654 Russian NGOs received […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 15, 2013) The operations of the Golos association specializing in monitoring elections in Russia may be suspended for half a year if a court recognizes it as a foreign agent but it still refuses to be registered as such, a Justice Ministry official has said. Speaking at a roundtable discussion at the State Duma on Wednesday, […]
» Read more
(Interfax – May 8, 2013) Russian rights veteran and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alekseyeva has said that the fate of certain NGOs is sealed as regards being required to register as a “foreign agent”. She also criticized the incumbent authorities for their crackdown on dissenters but said she did not expect the return of an Iron Curtain. […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – Alexey Eremenko – MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) The Kremlin is trying to force the majority of independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia to shut down their operations, the leaders of two prominent Russian human rights groups said on Wednesday. “Independent [nongovernmental] organizations will simply cease to exist,” Lev Ponomaryov, the head of the For Human Rights […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, May 8, 2013) The Prosecutor General’s Office has branded three more Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as “foreign agents” saying they were financed from abroad, Izvestia daily reported on Wednesday. The latest in a series of NGOs to be listed as foreign agents are the Moscow School of Political Studies, the Urals human rights group and the […]
» Read more
(opendemocracy.net – Anna Sevortian – May 1, 2013) Anna Sevortian is an independent expert who was formerly the Director of Human Rights Watch Russia. Gogol’s government inspector was a figure of fun. Russia’s new government inspectors are anything but funny. At a meeting with FSB leaders on 14 February, Vladimir Putin put an end to any doubts about his intention […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Pavel Koshkin, RBTH – April 30, 2013) While the Russian authorities sum up the results of their large-scale inspections of NGOs, pundits make their guesses as to whether it is possible to reach a compromise on this issue. The large-scale inspections of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have puzzled both experts and NGO representatives. While […]
» Read more
(Interfax – April 29, 2013) More than ten members of the Russian Public Chamber have signed a statement in support of yet another NGO being checked in Russia in which they slammed the ongoing mass checks of non-profit organizations in the country in general, saying they lead to significant infringement of civil liberties, Russian news agency Interfax reported on 29 […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 30, 2013) Prosecutors in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan have ordered the Agora human rights group, which has provided legal assistance to people detained at anti-Kremlin protests, to register as a “foreign agent,” a demand it has dismissed as “unlawful.” Under a controversial law approved by President Vladimir Putin last year, NGOs funded from abroad and […]
» Read more
(Interfax – April 30, 2013) The inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGO) are not large-scale and the results will be summarized in late May, Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Grin wrote in a letter to Chairman of the Russian Presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov. “The inspection does not pursue limiting NGO activities, it is preventive and aimed at forcing organizations […]
» Read more
From: Arch Getty <getty@ucla.edu> Subject: Putin and Russian History Date: Fri, 26 Apr 2013 Putin and Russian History By J. Arch Getty J. Arch Getty is Professor of History at UCLA. He is the author of several books on Russian history, including Practicing Stalinism: Boyars, Bolsheviks and the Persistence of Tradition, forthcoming from Yale University Press. An occupational hazard of […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 24, 2013) Representatives of human rights organizations have said that the number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) inspected by state agencies is excessive. “Hundreds of NGOs were inspected by the tax service, the Ministry of Justice, fire, sanitary agencies and other bodies. Some agencies gave ridiculous demands, for instance, to confirm that all employees of the organization […]
» Read more
(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 24, 2013) Russian prosecutors, tax officials, and police are checking the offices of Levada Center, an independent polling organization, as part of a routine inspection of NGOs across the country, a source at the organization told The Moscow News on Wednesday. “They are checking the basic documents, the charter, financial documents […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, April 17, 2013) Heads of leading Russian NGOs disagree with accusations levelled by the authorities at the human rights association Golos facing a heavy fine. “We think it is absurd to say that the organization that led the fight for fair elections in Russia is acting in the interests of foreign states and is a foreign agent,” […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW. April 15, 2013) The information on the multi-billion funding of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Russia coming from abroad voiced by the president only partially refers to the NGOs whose activities are controlled by the Justice Ministry. “Of course, not all NGOs that are reported by banks to receive such funding according to the NGO legal status belong […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 16, 2013) Russian prosecutors have opened a case against a regional non-governmental organization accused of not registering as a “foreign agent” in the wake of a wave of inspections of NGOs, a rights group reported on Tuesday. Alexander Zamaryanov, director of the Kostroma Public Initiatives Support Center, is suspected of being involved in political […]
» Read more
(Interfax – April 15, 2013) Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov has said that the information about the foreign funding of non-governmental organizations (NGO) in Russia recently disclosed by President Vladimir Putin is reliable. “There is not the slightest reason to doubt the reliability of the said figures,” Peskov said on a Sunday night current events show on Russia 1 channel. […]
» Read more
(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 68 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Pavel Felgenhauer – April 11, 2013) Since last March, Russian and international human rights organizations – including such prominent ones as Memorial, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Transparency International and others – have been harassed by Russian law enforcement and tax authorities, had their premises searched all […]
» Read more
(Interfax – MOSCOW, April 10, 2013) A number of non-governmental organizations (NGO) performing the functions of a foreign agent are obstructing their inspections and refusing to comply with legitimate demands by supervisory and controlling bodies, the Prosecutor General’s Office said. “It should be emphasized that some organizations receiving financing from abroad, despite inspectors’ legitimate demands, are actively obstructing the ongoing […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – April 9, 2013) NGO representatives on Monday questioned the validity of President Vladimir Putin’s comment to German television that NGOs in Russia had received about $1 billion from abroad since the “foreign agent” law was adopted in 2012. In the interview broadcast Friday, Putin said there were 654 active NGOs in Russia […]
» Read more
(RIA Novosti, HANOVER, April 8, 2013) The recent wave of inspections of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia is not aimed at restricting their activity but rather at controlling their foreign funding, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “All our actions are not designed to shut down or ban [the operation of NGOs in […]
» Read more
(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg – March 26, 2013) Amnesty International has joined a growing list of organizations raided by Russian officials in recent weeks amid what activists describe as a ruthless Kremlin crackdown on dissent. Prosecutors and tax police on March 25 searched the venerable rights watchdog’s Moscow headquarters, along with three other prominent advocacy groups — the […]
» Read more
(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Stanislav Kuvaldin, special to RBTH – March 27, 2013) Law enforcement organs are conducting mass checks of Russian NGOs. According to information from human rights activists, more than 40 organizations in 16 regions of Russia have already been inspected. The Justice Ministry and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have announced their intention to check […]
» Read more
(Interfax – Moscow, March 25, 2013) The Justice Ministry has explained that mass checks at NGOs are being carried out to uncover the organizations that fall under the definition of “foreign agents”. “If breaches of the laws of the Russian Federation are uncovered, including the provisions of the Federal Law “On the introduction of changes to legislative acts as regards […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Jonathan Earle – March 20, 2013) Acting on instructions from the Prosecutor General’s Office, government inspectors in at least nine Russian regions have conducted hundreds of unannounced checks on non-governmental organizations, including well-known human rights, environment and religious groups. The checks are designed to catch organizations that receive foreign funding and are involved in “political […]
» Read more
MOSCOW, March 15 (RIA Novosti) Deputies from the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, accused their opposition-supporting colleague Dmitry Gudkov on Friday of supporting the United States against Russia, and have appealed to the its ethics commission to investigate his conduct. The deputies claim Gudkov, one of few dissenting voices left in the State Duma, gave a speech at […]
» Read more
(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anya Aseeva – March 11, 2013) The Prosecutor General’s office, together with the Justice Ministry and the Federal Anti-Monopoly Service, has begun conducting large-scale unscheduled checks into non-governmental organizations to determine sources of foreign funding, a news report said Monday. Marina Grudneva, a spokeswoman for the Prosecutor General’s office, said the inspection was being conducted […]
» Read more
(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, February 26, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/02/window-on-eurasia-xenophobic-attitudes.html) Xenophobic attitudes are now to be found among communist, nationalist, liberal and pro-Kremlin parties and groups, according to Moscow’s leading specialist on inter-ethnic relations, a development that reflects the efforts of these organizations to tap into popular attitudes and win votes. Such outreach programs are not likely […]
» Read more