NGO Raids – Johnson’s Russia List

Johnson’s Russia List

Russian Duma Introduces Amendment Defining ‘Political Activity’ to NGO Law

February 22, 2016 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Russian State Duma Building file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – February 20, 2016) Representatives of all factions in the State Duma have introduced an amendment to the law on non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that specifies the notion of “political activity,” the RBC news agency reported Friday. The draft law, published by the Justice Ministry in January, suggests that operations in a number of spheres including national […]

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Putin’s Pre-emptive Strike: Kremlin Moves to Liquidate ‘Foreign Agents’

February 19, 2016 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Daria Litvinova – February 19, 2015) Activist Pavel Chikov could react only with sarcasm when a court handed down a winding up order against his Agora legal advocacy association. “As the first NGO ever to have been liquidated in a Russian court, we are so proud,” he wrote on Twitter. The next day, another organization, […]

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A law beyond improvement; Defining “political activity” may seem like an academic exercise, but in Russia, it is an existential one.

February 8, 2016 JRL Russia List Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

Defining “political activity” may seem like an academic exercise, but in Russia, it is an existential one. (opendemocracy.net – Tanya Lokshina – February 8, 2016) Tanya Lokshina is Russia program director at Human Rights Watch. In May 2013, as Russia was craving positive international publicity before the Sochi Olympic Games, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, […]

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Russian Justice Ministry Proposes Further Checks to ‘Foreign Agent’ NGOs

October 29, 2015 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov, Eva Hartog – October 29, 2015) The Justice Ministry has proposed legal amendments that would set a procedure for the government to shut down nongovernmental organizations deemed “foreign agents,” state-run news agency TASS reported. The bill would require NGOs designated as “foreign agents” to supply the Justice Ministry with thorough accounts of their […]

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Russian Senators Propose Ban of 12 Foreign NGOs, Reining In Civil Society

July 9, 2015 JRL Russia List Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – July 9, 2015) In what experts see as Moscow’s latest bid to rein in civil society, Russian senators released a list Wednesday of 12 foreign NGOs whose work they believe poses a threat to national security, and who should thus be declared “undesirable” and prohibited from operating in the country. The Federation […]

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Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights slams law on “foreign agents”

July 8, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Interfax – Moscow, July 7, 2015) The Russian Presidential Council for Human Rights insists on the immediate cancellation of the Justice Ministry decision to include Dynasty [Dinastiya] and Liberal Mission foundations in the list of NGOs that are foreign agents and review of the law on NGOs. “Since the first days of the existence of this very approximate and therefore […]

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Russian Rights Activist Alexeyeva Returns to Kremlin Council

May 28, 2015 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – May 28, 2015) One of Russia’s best-known human rights advocates and the founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, Lyudmila Alexeyeva, has rejoined the Kremlin’s human rights council, saying she intended to look into the persecution of nongovernmental organizations under the country’s “foreign agents” law. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday appointing […]

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Rights Groups Condemn ‘Dangerous’ Russian Undesirables Law

May 27, 2015 JRL Russia List Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Photo of Kremlin Tower, St. Basil's, Red Square at Night

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Tom Balmforth – MOSCOW, May 26, 2015) Rights groups named as potential targets of a new law allowing the government to brand international organizations “undesirable” and shutter their Russia operations have criticized the legislation, calling it a “dangerous” new weapon in a Kremlin campaign to suppress civil society. Activists expressed concern on May 26 that the […]

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NEWSLINK Washington Post: Closing the doors on a museum of political repression in Russia

April 7, 2015 JRL Russia List History, Soviet Union, Human Rights, Newslinks, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

The only museum of political repression set in an old Stalinist labor camp has closed, the latest casualty of the Russian government’s effort to silence independent voices. After a three-year struggle with the government of the Perm region, in the western foothills of the Ural Mountains, the nongovernmental organization that operated the museum, known officially as the Memorial Historical Center […]

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Interfax: Russian Justice Ministry withdraws claims against embattled NGOs

November 21, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(Interfax – Moscow, November 19, 2014) The Russian Justice Ministry has withdrawn claims against two foreign agent non-commercial organizations over their reports on foreign financing; only the non-commercial organization Soldiers’ Mothers of St Petersburg will be held responsible for not presenting its report, the ministry’s press service has reported. “The Russian Ministry of Justice had notified the Freedom of Information […]

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Interfax: Putin backs proposal to devise procedure for NGOs’ removal from foreign agents register

November 18, 2014 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Interfax – November 17, 2014) President Vladimir Putin has backed Human Rights Commissioner Ella Pamfilova’s proposal to devise a procedure of removing nongovernmental organizations from the register of foreign agents after their foreign funding ends. Pamfilova told Putin that the Justice Ministry cannot remove NGOs, no longer financed from abroad, from the foreign agents register in the absence of a […]

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List of ‘foreign agents’ grows thanks to Justice Ministry

October 22, 2014 JRL Russia List Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

World Map Showing Continents, Greens, Browns, Ice

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Galiya Ibragimova, RBTH – October 21, 2014) Since Russia’s Justice Ministry received the right to declare organizations “foreign agents” without their consent, the number of NGOs on the list has grown substantially In the two years since the passage of Russia’s controversial law on NGOs in July 2012, human rights and research organizations […]

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Bill Proposes Softening NGO ‘Foreign Agent’ Law

October 10, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – October 9, 2014) A legislative commission has approved a bill reducing fines for non-governmental organizations that fail to register with the Justice Ministry as so-called “foreign agents,” the government said in a statement Wednesday. The bill, conceived after the Ministry received complaints from the country’s human rights commissioner, proposes halving the minimum penalty for officials […]

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Russia’s Golos Has ‘Foreign Agent’ Status Removed

September 10, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – September 08, 2014) The head of the independent Russian electoral rights group Golos (Voice) says a Moscow city court has overturned a decision that the organization had to be registered as a “foreign agent” with authorities. Grigori Melkonyants said the court accepted the appeal of Russian Human Rights Commissioner Ella Pamfilova, who asked the Moscow court to review […]

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Justice Ministry Adds Five More Russian NGOs to ‘Foreign Agent’ List

June 10, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 10, 2014) Russia’s Justice Ministry has added five nongovernmental organizations to its list of “foreign agents” just days after President Vladimir Putin signed a law allowing organizations to labeled as such without their consent. An official statement on the ministry’s website said the decision was made based on “court decisions confirming that the organizations […]

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Russian upper house approves tougher “foreign agent” NGO law

May 29, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Interfax – Moscow, May 28, 2014) The Federation Council [Russia’s upper chamber of parliament] has approved a draft law giving the Justice Ministry authority to include a noncommercial organization [the usual Russian phrase for what is referred to elsewhere as NGOs] on the register of foreign agents, even if that same NGO has not applied for inclusion on the register. […]

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24 NGOs in Russia Labeled as Foreign Agents in 2013

April 29, 2014 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's File Photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Anna Dolgov – April 29, 2014) The Prosecutor General’s Office said it identified 24 nongovernmental organizations as “foreign agents” last year, in line with a law that rights groups say is intended to limit dissent in Russia. In particular, a report by Prosecutor General Yury Chaika singled out human rights group Public Verdict Foundation for […]

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Russian civil society and the law

April 22, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and Saint Basil's

(opendemocracy.net – Louise Hallman – April 22, 2014) Louise Hallman is the Editor at Salzburg Global Seminar, an independent non-profit organization based in Salzburg, Austria with a mission to challenge current and future leaders to solve issues of global concern Russia’s foreign agents law caused a great deal of controversy when it was introduced late last year. But the woes […]

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Russian law on NGOs as “foreign agents” ruled constitutional

April 9, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Russian Constitutional Court file photo

(Interfax – April 8, 2014) The Russian Constitutional Court has ruled that the controversial law that requires all non-government organizations to register as “foreign agents” if they receive funding from abroad and are involved in political activities is constitutional. However, the court said that the provision that lists fines for violating the law is unconstitutional because it says that the […]

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When charity should begin at home

April 3, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Map of Russia and Russian Flag adapted from images at state.gov

(opendemocracy.net – Alex Jackson – March 31, 2014) Alex Jackson is a writer for Salzburg Global Seminar, an independent non-profit organisation based in Salzburg, Austria with a mission to challenge current and future leaders to solve issues of global concern. You can follow him on @salzburgglobal and @ajacko26 Civil society development in Russia has been hampered by restrictive laws and […]

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NPOs law could be further corrected – diplomat

February 19, 2014 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Russian Foreign Ministry Building Tower file photo

(Interfax – February 19, 2014) No more than 1,000 checks have been conducted with respect to nonprofit organizations (NPOs) operating in Russia, which were fined a meager amount, whereas the total number of NPOs in our country is 200,000, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Human Rights Commissioner Konstantin Dolgov said. The accusations against Russia over NPOs checks are baseless, he said. […]

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Interfax: Hearing of Memorial, Golos Complaints Against Prosecutors Postponed Until February

November 20, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. Nov 18 (Interfax) – The Moscow Zamoskvoretsky Court has postponed until February 4, 2014 the hearing of the complaint filed by the human rights center Memorial about the prosecutors’ demand to register as a foreign agent. Thus, the court has postponed the hearing of the human rights activists’ until the Strasbourg court or the Russian Constitutional Court give their […]

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Interfax: Prosecutor’s office cannot suspend proceedings of civil cases regarding several NGOs

November 9, 2013 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's file photo

MOSCOW. Nov 7 (Interfax) – The Prosecutor General’s Office cannot satisfy the request of the presidential Human Rights Council to suspend probes of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). A letter from Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky to head of the council Mikhail Fedotov says Russian law does not give prosecutors such rights. “Proceedings in a concrete case can be suspended pursuant to […]

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Russian Rights Council Asks Prosecutor To Suspend Checks On NGOs

October 23, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – October 21, 2013) The Russian presidential human rights council has sent a letter to Prosecutor-General Yuriy Chayka, asking for checks on NGOs to be suspended until a complaint about the law “On foreign agents” is considered in the Constitutional Court, council head Mikhail Fedotov told state news agency RIA Novosti on 21 October. “Today we sent a […]

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Russian State Duma passes bill in first reading giving new grounds to inspect NGOs

October 11, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Russian Duma Building

(Interfax – MOSCOW, October 9, 2013) The Russian State Duma has passed a bill in the first reading expanding grounds for unscheduled inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGO). According to the explanatory materials to the bill, it is expected to expand the list of grounds over which the Justice Ministry can hold unscheduled inspections of NGOs regarding which the information on […]

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RIA Novosti: Russian Parliamentary Committee Approves NGO Snap-Check Bill

September 19, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, September 18, 2013) A relevant parliamentary committee on Wednesday recommended that lawmakers pass a bill providing additional grounds for unscheduled checks of non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The committee for public unions and organizations recommended that the bill, submitted by the Russian government in June, be passed in its first reading. According to the bill, grounds for […]

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22 ‘Foreign Agents’ Detected in Russia After Mass Searches, Prosecutor Says

August 23, 2013 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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, […]

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Moscow Helsinki Group head says law on NGOs must be cancelled

August 5, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Lyudmila Alekseyeva file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, August 2, 2013) Head of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva said she disagreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who said he was opposed to toughening or liberalizing the law on non-governmental organizations (NGO) – foreign agents. “I think that this law must be cancelled over its absurdity,” Alexeyeva told Interfax on Friday. “We, NGOs, do not […]

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Sentence first, verdict afterwards

August 1, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

European Court of Human Rights Building file photo

(opendemocracy.net – Kirill Koroteev – Aug. 1, 2013) Kirill Koroteev, a Russian lawyer, has worked with Memorial Human Rights Centre (Moscow) and European Human Rights Advocacy Centre on numerous cases lodged against the Russian Federation with the European Court of Human Rights. He was also a charge de mission for the International Federation for Human Rights (Paris) on Belarus and […]

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‘Foreign Agents’ fight for survival

July 31, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(opendemocracy.net – Yuri Dzhibladze – July 30, 2013) Yuri Dzhibladze is founder and president of the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, a Russian public policy and advocacy NGO. The Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights has achieved much in fifteen years, but now, like so many NGOs, it has been branded a ‘foreign […]

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Audit Says Golos Owes 2.3M Rubles in Back Taxes

July 19, 2013 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 19, 2013) The Federal Tax Service has accused election watchdog Golos of not paying 2.28 million rubles ($70,200) in income taxes in 2009-10 on funding it received from USAID, in what rights activists see as the latest in a string of state attacks on independent observers. Auditors from Tax Inspectorate No. 9 concluded that […]

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Golos hopes to receive state grant, to reset relations with authorities

July 16, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

File Image of Map of Russia for Polling Place Webcams

(Interfax – MOSCOW, July 15, 2013) The Russian voter rights movement Golos (Voice) said it counted on receiving 14 million rubles from the state budget for its program whose aim is to increase public confidence in elections. “We have drafted a project, which is aimed at increasing society’s trust in the voting infrastructure and have written an application, which we […]

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Russian prosecutor calls for more NGOs oversight

July 11, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Yury Chaika file photo

(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 […]

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Half of Russians Support Tough NGO Sanctions

July 11, 2013 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – July 11, 2013) Over half of Russians support tough measures implemented against NGOs, while nearly a third don’t know what activities these organizations are actually engaged in, a Levada Center poll suggests. A controversial law was passed in November requiring all groups that receive foreign funding and engage in “political activity” to register as “foreign […]

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Rights group left with crushed computer after eviction from Moscow office – head

June 25, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 24, 2013) Police and private security guards crushed a computer in evicting Russia’s For Human Rights group from its Moscow headquarters early on Saturday, according to the organization’s leader. For Human Rights, one of Russia’s oldest and largest rights groups, was thrown out of its office in the city center in a predawn raid because of […]

Leave a comment For Human Rights, Government, Human Rights, NGO Raids, NGO's, Nonprofits, Ponomaryov, Russia, Russian News

Billionaire to Pay Lease for Evicted Human Rights Group

June 25, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Mikhail Prokohrov file photo

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 25, 2013) Russian billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov, who leads the Civil Platform party, will donate 1.5 million rubles ($45,870) to pay the annual rent for a Russian human rights group evicted from its office last weekend, a party member said on Tuesday. Prokhorov made his pledge at a meeting with Lev Ponomaryov, leader of the […]

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Rights Commissioner Lukin: Eviction of human rights NGO from office unlawful

June 24, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Vladimir Lukin file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 22, 2013) Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin described as arbitrary the eviction of the organization For Human Rights from its office in Maly Kislovsky Street in Moscow by city law enforcement agencies early on Saturday. “We will discuss with lawyers how to react to what happened,” Lukin told Interfax on Saturday. “Moscow authorities and police […]

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Unscheduled inspections trigger push to amend NGO law

June 18, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – June 18, 2013) The Law on Nongovernmental Organizations will be adjusted and its provisions dealing with unscheduled inspections will be amended, the Russian government said on its website citing its resolution of June 17. Article 32 will be amended and it will list the following reasons for ordering unscheduled inspections on nonprofit organizations: expiration of the deadline for […]

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RIA Novosti: Putin Praises Russia’s ‘Liberal’ NGO Legislation

June 17, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Vladimir Putin file photo

(RIA Novosti – NOVO-OGARYOVO, June 14, 2013) Russian legislation regarding non-governmental organizations is far more liberal that of other countries, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, in an implicit response to Western criticism that recent Russian legislation on NGOs is too restrictive. “Our legislation is more liberal,” he said in Moscow at a meeting of the Civil 20, the arm […]

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Law on NGOs-foreign agents must be nullified, not elaborated – Memorial head

June 17, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 14, 2013) Head of a leading non-governmental organization (NGO) in Russia, the Historical, Enlightenment and Human Rights Society Memorial, Arseny Roginsky, said he did not see any sense in elaborating the law obliging NGOs with foreign financing to register as foreign agents. “It is impossible to elaborate this law. It violates the right on freedom of […]

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Kremlin official proposes to amend NGO law

June 13, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(Interfax – June 13, 2013) The law on non-governmental organizations (NGO) acting as foreign agents may be amended, says Ksenia Yudayeva, the chief of the Russian presidential expert directorate. “I think a lot of laws we adopt are later discussed and subjected to an adjustment process,” Yudayeva told journalists at the Civil G20 Summit in Moscow on Thursday. “For any […]

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NGOs Find Loophole in ‘Foreign Agents’ Law

June 13, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 13, 2013) Non-governmental organizations in Russia have found a way to bypass the law requiring them to register as “foreign agents,” a news report said Thursday. An official in one NGO told Kommersant that his agency is planning to set up a commercial organization which will officially receive foreign grants. The main NGO will […]

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Russian justice minister seeks wider range of grounds for NGO checks

June 12, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – ST. PETERSBURG, June 11, 2013) Russian Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov has supported the need for a new bill, which is currently being debated, to provide a wider range of grounds permitting inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country. “The bill that broadens the range of grounds for such inspections is in the stage of preliminary debates at […]

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Golos received money from Switzerland, Norway – Justice Ministry

June 6, 2013 JRL Russia List Europe, EU, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW. June 5, 2013) Rosfinmonitoring is monitoring the receipt by Russian NGOs of funding from abroad and reports to the Justice Ministry on a monthly basis, Justice Ministry official Tatyana Vagina said. Rosfinmonitoring provides information to the Justice Ministry for internal use, Vagina said. “If an NGO does not provide information on funding received from abroad despite information […]

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Government Proposes New Grounds for NGO Raids

June 5, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 5, 2013) The government’s legislative commission has approved a draft amendment giving the authorities additional grounds on which to carry out unscheduled inspections of nongovernmental groups that violate Russian law, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday. According to the draft amendment, checks can be undertaken if violations are not fixed within time limits set by […]

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NGO Checks In Russia To Become More Organized And ‘Systematic’ – Minister

May 17, 2013 JRL Russia List Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – St Petersburg, May 16, 2013) Inspections of non-commercial organizations in Russia will continue but they will become more balanced and systematic, Justice Minister Aleksandr Konovalov has said. “Over the last year, legislation on NCOs has been seriously renewed. These inspections had not been carried out for a long time. Now, somehow too many were planned and inspected, […]

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Rights Activists Tell Kerry About State Pressure

May 8, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – May 8, 2013) The leaders of some of Russia’s largest nongovernmental organizations raised their concerns about a Kremlin crackdown during a meeting Wednesday with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. Kerry, who was wrapping up a two-day visit, met with the NGO representatives at Spaso House, the Moscow residence of U.S. Ambassador Michael McFaul, before […]

Leave a comment Foreign Agent Law, Human Rights, NGO Raids, NGO's, Nonprofits, U.S.-Russian Relations

Rights Champions: Kremlin Wants to Close Russian NGOs

May 8, 2013 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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 […]

Leave a comment Foreign Agent Law, Human Rights, NGO Raids, NGO's, Nonprofits, Politics, Putin, Xenophobia

Three More Russian NGOs Branded ‘Foreign Agents’ – Report

May 8, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Kremlin and Moscow Environs Aerial View

(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 […]

Leave a comment Foreign Agent Law, Government, Human Rights, NGO Raids, Politics, Xenophobia

The government inspectors

May 4, 2013 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Vladimir Putin file photo

(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 […]

Leave a comment Government, Human Rights, NGO, NGO Raids, NGO's, Nonprofits, Putin, Xenophobia

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