Patriotic Stop-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

(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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Leave a comment Duma, Foreign Agent Law, Government, NGO Raids, NGO's, Nonprofits, Patriotic Stop-List, Politics, Slider, Xenophobia

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, […]

NEWSLINK: “How a liberal bastion is persevering in an increasingly illiberal Moscow. The Andrei Sakharov Center, one of the last safe spaces for Russia’s liberal community, has been fined and fined again for its purported ‘political activity.’ But celebrity support and crowdsourcing have kept it alive.” – Christian Science Monitor

January 26, 2016 JRL Russia List Assassinations, Beatings, Threats, Human Rights, Newslinks, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Russian Culture Minister Says Burning Books ‘Completely Unacceptable’

January 15, 2016 JRL Russia List Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Life in Russia, Culture, Arts, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Bookcase file photo, adapted from image at nlm.nih.gov

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – January 15, 2016) Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky has denounced an incident in which 53 publications funded by the George Soros Foundation were reportedly incinerated in northern Russia’s Komi region. Medinsky told the Meduza news portal on Thursday that the burning of books and the destruction of monuments, is “completely unacceptable” because it “looks terrible […]

NGO U.S. Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and Rule of Law recognized as undesirable in Russia

December 4, 2015 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

MOSCOW. Dec 4 (Interfax) – The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has recognized a non-governmental organization (NGO) from the United States – the U.S. Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and the Rule of Law (USRF) – as an undesirable organization in Russian territory, Prosecutor General’s Office spokesperson Marina Gridneva told Interfax on Friday. “The president of the foundation is a U.S. […]

Soros Foundation recognized as undesirable in Russia

November 30, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

(Interfax – November 30, 2015) The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has recognized undesirable several foreign non-profit organizations, such as the Open Society Foundation and the Assistance Foundation in Russia. “This decision was taken, following an address by the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly to the Russian general prosecutor, foreign minister and justice minister to inspect the organizations, which […]

Georgy Satarov: ‘The Opposition Needs to Put the Authorities in Zugzwang’

August 14, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

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

(Institute of Modern Russia – imrussia.org – August 12, 2015) As part of the Institute of Modern Russia’s ongoing interview series with Russian and Western experts, imrussia.org editor-in-chief Olga Khvostunova sat down with INDEM Foundation president Georgy Satarov to talk about social discontent, the consequences of the law on ”undesirable organizations,” the principle of simplification in Putin’s politics, and the […]

Kremlin Forms NGO Expert Group

August 14, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – August 11, 2015) The Kremlin has announced the creation of an expert group to consider changes to a controversial law that labels NGOs receiving funding from abroad as “foreign agents,” the RBC news agency reported Monday, citing deputy presidential chief of staff Vyacheslav Volodin. The group will work within the presidential administration and will consist […]

‘Is your mum a foreign agent?’

August 12, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

Russian NGOs, large and small, are facing closure after the blacklisting of their foreign funders. Colta.ru speaks to some of the organisations affected. (opendemocracy.net/Colta.ru – EKATERINA SELIVANOVA, NADEZHDA KONOBEYEVSKAYA, and YAKOV KAPITONOV – August 11, 2015) Ekaterina Selivanova is a Moscow-based journalist. She writes for Colta.ru and The New Times. Nadezhda Konobeyevskaya is an independent journalist, and writes for Novaya […]

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Leave a comment Foreign Agent Act, NGO's, Nonprofits, Patriotic Stop-List, Russia, Russian News, Slider, Xenophobia

Human rights activists fear Soros Foundation to leave Russia

August 3, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Interfax – August 3, 2015) The Soros Foundation could follow the MacArthur Foundation and National Endowment for Democracy and leave Russia, veteran of the human rights movement and head of the Civil Assistance committee Svetlana Gannushkina said. “I am afraid that the Soros Foundation is leaving Russia,” she said. According to Gannushkina, the probability exists that the Soros Foundation will […]

Putin Hurts a Think Tank by Not Banning It

July 30, 2015 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Leonid Bershidsky – July 28, 2015) Russian President Vladimir Putin is nothing if not cunning when it comes to dealing with his adversaries. When he signed a law allowing the government to ban any nongovernmental organization deemed “undesirable,” it was clear some foreign NGOs would suffer. What was less obvious — though, in hindsight, inevitable — […]

U.S. embassy in Moscow concerned about NED’s designation as ‘undesirable organization’ in Russia

July 29, 2015 JRL Russia List Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

File Photo of U.S. Embassy Moscow, with Russian Foreign Ministry Building in Distance

(Interfax – July 28, 2015) The U.S. Embassy in Moscow is concerned about the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office’s decision to designate the U.S. nonprofit organization National Endowment for Democracy (NED) an undesirable foreign organization in Russian territory. “We are deeply concerned about the effect of the so-called law on undesirable organizations,” U.S. embassy spokesperson Will Stevens told Interfax when asked […]

Russian human rights activists lodge appeals against law on “foreign agent” NGOs

July 23, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections

(Interfax – July 22, 2015) A number of Russian human rights advocacy organizations have lodged court appeals against their classification as “foreign agents”, privately-owned Russian news agency Interfax reported on 22 July. Earlier the Russian Justice Ministry released a statement saying it had sent messages to a number of NGOs working in the human rights sector and included on the […]

MacArthur Foundation to close office in Russia over restrictive new laws

July 23, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Nuclear, Missile Defense, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Anna Sorokina, RBTH, combined report – July 22, 2015) The U.S.-based MacArthur Foundation has announced that it is to cease its work in Russia in connection with new legislation that seeks to limit the activities of foreign organizations seen as a threat to national security. The MacArthur NGO, which receives no funding from […]

Human rights NGOs hope to prove they are not foreign agents after Justice Ministry warning

July 22, 2015 JRL Russia List Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's

(Interfax – July 22, 2015) Leading Russian human rights organizations that have received warnings from the Justice Ministry intend to go to court to seek their removal from the register of NGOS classed as foreign agents. “We disagree with being entered on this register. We will go to court,” Svetlana Gannushkina, the head of the committee Civil Assistance, told Interfax […]

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

(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 […]

Federation Council to present ‘patriotic stop-list’ of 12 NGOs to Prosecutor General’s Office, Foreign Ministry

July 7, 2015 JRL Russia List Corruption, Law, Police, Courts, Crime, Human Rights, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, Regions, Cities, Municipalities

(Interfax – July 7, 2015) The ‘patriotic stop-list’ drawn up by the Federation Council consists of twelve foreign NGOs, Federation Council Chairperson Valentina Matviyenko has said at a press conference. “At our meeting tomorrow we will pass a related appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Russian Foreign Ministry and will present our patriotic stop-list consisting of twelve foreign […]