Russia’s oldest NGO asks public for aid as ‘foreign agent’ law takes effect

Lyudmila Alekseyeva file photo

(Interfax – Moscow, 25 November) Russia’s oldest NGO, the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG), has called upon Russians to make donations for human rights projects as the law on “foreign agents” came into force (on 21 November).

“Dear fellow citizens! The Moscow Helsinki Group is calling on all individuals and legal entities to participate in raising funds in order for MHG activities to continue,” the organization’s website said.

“All private donations raised will be used to maintain the functioning of the office and the organization’s website, current monitoring of the human rights situation and the preparation of an annual review on violations uncovered, the organization of work with individual complaints of citizens and the creation of a public reception, legal protection of human rights organizations and rights activists that are subject to persecution,” MHG said. (Passage omitted: background)

The 85-year-old head of MHG, Lyudmila Alekseyeva, told Interfax MHG would never call itself a “foreign agent” but it can be forced to give up foreign grants.

“I do not know a single human rights organization that has registered as a foreign agent. We are not foreign agents. We cannot call ourselves like that. The law requires this but we will not give false information,” she said.

“The court can rule that we are a foreign agent, that MHG receives money from abroad, engages in politics and influences public opinion. We are not going to give up influence on public opinion, we have been doing this since our establishment 36 years ago. We can give up foreign money and try to start looking for money in our Homeland for our work. We will do this only on condition that we undergo the whole procedure and the court obliges us. We will then abandon foreign grants but will file cassation appeals and go to the Strasbourg court,” Alekseyeva said.

“Let them react, them put me into prison. I will quickly die there, I am a very old person. I wonder what it will look like. We’ll see,” she said. (Passage omitted to end: background)

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