Pressure ratchets up on major Russian NGO

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Yulia Ponomareva, RBTH – July 1, 2013) The Movement For Human Rights is among dozens of organizations teetering on the brink of a shutdown for protesting new legislation on NGOs and the first one that authorities have evicted by force. Lev Ponomarev, a 71-year-old human rights activist, is going through a hard time […]

» Read more

Leading Russian Internet Companies Object To New Anti-Piracy Law

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RIA Novosti – Moscow, June 27, 2013) Russian internet companies have published an open letter against the “anti-piracy” bill, which was approved by the senators on Wednesday (26 June). It was posted on the website of the Russian Association of Electronic Communications (RAEC). The authors of the appeal are Mail.ru Group, Yandex, Afisha-Rambler-SUP, Google Russia, Ozon.ru, the Association of Internet […]

» Read more

Moscow Prosecutors to Look into NGO Eviction

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 27, 2013) Moscow prosecutors have launched a probe into Saturday’s eviction of a Russian human rights organization from its office, a Moscow deputy prosecutor said on Wednesday. “The city’s prosecutor instructed to probe actions by Moscow Mayor’s office officials and by police officers,” Moscow First Deputy Prosecutor Alexander Kozlov said, adding that prosecutors would also […]

» Read more

Twelve Suspects Deny Charges as Bolotnoye Trial Begins

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – June 26, 2013) A Moscow court on Tuesday opened the trial of 12 people suspected of taking part in “riots” and clashing with police at a now-infamous anti-government rally on Bolotnaya Ploshchad last May. More than 400 people were detained at the protest on May 6, 2012, and at least 14 participants […]

» Read more

Participant in Yukos case expertise says it was purely non-profit and voluntary

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 25, 2013) Mikhail Subbotin, a participant in the public expertise of the second Yukos case and senior scholar from the Institute of Economics and International Relations, who is expected at the Investigative Committee on Wednesday, has drawn a parallel between the current case of experts and “doctors’ plot” at the end of the Stalin era. “It […]

» Read more

Billionaire to Pay Lease for Evicted Human Rights Group

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 […]

» Read more

Yukos Report Authors to Face Questioning

Mikhail Khodorkovsky file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – June 25, 2013) Two of the co-authors of the expert report into the second Yukos case have been asked to attend interviews by the Investigative Committee, a news report said Tuesday. Lawyer Mikhail Subbotin told Kommersant that he would attend an interview Wednesday, while earlier this week it was reported that former Constitutional Court Judge […]

» Read more

Khodorkovsky’s son says has no official info on ‘third Yukos case’

Mikhail Khodorkovsky file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 17, 2013) The family of Mikhail Khodorkovsky has no information on the possible third criminal case against the former Yukos CEO. “No charges have been filed, and the Investigations Committee and the prosecutors have not sent anything yet. However, I know what they say about the questioning of experts who stated their opinion on the second […]

» Read more

Navalny says his brother’s home searched by detectives

File Photo of Alexei Navalny Being Grabbed by Police at Protest

(Interfax – MOSCOW, June 17, 2013) Russian opposition activist Alexei Navalny, founder of Anti-Corruption Foundation, wrote on Twitter on Monday that detectives were currently searching his brother’s apartment. Interfax has been unable to obtain confirmation of Navalny’s words. In December, brothers Alexei and Oleg Navalny were charged with fraud and money laundering. “Alexei Navalny set up a limited liability company […]

» Read more

Unscheduled inspections trigger push to amend NGO law

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 […]

» Read more

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

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 […]

» Read more

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

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 […]

» Read more

Russian official accuses rights activists of sowing destructive ideas

Vladimir Markin file photo

(Interfax – June 10, 2013) Official spokesman for the Russian Investigations Committee Vladimir Markin has said that human rights activists do not always take an objective stance on some criminal cases and sometimes come up with ideas which are destructive for law and order, privately-owned Interfax news agency reported on 10 June. “Alas, numerous social commentators and human rights activists […]

» Read more

Court Extends Detentions as Bolotnoye Trial Begins

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow TImes – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – June 7, 2013) The trial against 12 people charged with violence against police and participation in alleged mass riots in the so-called Bolotnoye case ­ a case observers say is one of the largest politically motivated trials in recent history ­ opened at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court on Thursday. More than 400 […]

» Read more

Government Proposes New Grounds for NGO Raids

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 […]

» Read more

Market experts: Guriev situation already priced into ‘Russian risk’

Sergei Guriev file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW, May 28, 2013) Russian financial market experts differed in their assessments of the impact of the situation surrounding Sergei Guriev, the rector of the New Economic School, which came to light on Tuesday evening. They agreed that the episode could negatively affect Russia’s investment appeal, but did not think it signaled a shift in the fundamental investment […]

» Read more

Government Advisors Protest ‘Foreign Agent’ Law

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti, MOSCOW, May 30, 2013) ­ A group of leading Russian economists has called on the government to reconsider a controversial new law that obliges some NGOs to register as “foreign agents,” saying it threatens to destroy the cooperation between independent experts and the authorities. The letter written by the economists, many of whom were involved in devising a […]

» Read more

Kremlin Human Rights Council justifies Yukos case experts questioned by investigators [re: Guriev]

Mikhail Fedotov file photo

(Interfax – May 30, 2013) Russian economist Sergei Guriyev and other experts invited to prepare a conclusion on the Yukos case for the Presidential Human Rights Council did not do anything illegal, the council’s head Mikhail Fedotov told Interfax. “I do not see anything unlawful in the work done by Guriyev and the other experts invited by us to conduct […]

» Read more

Russian government seeks stricter penalties for extremism

Russian Jail File Photo Showing Outer Wall, Windows, Barbed Wire

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – May 28, 2013) A Russian government commission has approved a draft law increasing criminal punishments for extremism-related crimes and wrongdoing by religious organizations, seeking stiffer penalties for an existing controversial extremism law. “The government legislation commission has approved for consideration a draft law establishing a legal basis for neutralizing the destructive activities of religious organizations […]

» Read more

Russian Deputy PM Lends Support To Social Networking Site

File Image of Stylized Eye Surrounded by Binary Code

(RIA Novosti – London, May 2, 2013)(Dateline as received) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Vladislav Surkov hopes that social network VKontakte will continue despite the problems surrounding its founder, Pavel Durov. Social network VKontakte has recently found itself at the centre of several scandals. Information has appeared in the media about Durov’s involvement in a high-profile road accident in central St […]

» Read more

Will NGOs and Kremlin find a compromise amid inspections?

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

Trying to please: The NGO checks are not just political – they are also busy work in action

Map of Russia

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 29, 2013) Anna Arutunyan is an editor and correspondent at themoscownews.com As the head of an organization that helps people suffering from cystic fibrosis, an incurable genetic disorder that affects the lungs, Olga Alekina, of the Aid to Patients with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, wasn’t exactly daunted when prosecutors demanded an explanation for […]

» Read more

Authorities to sum up results of the NGO inspections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

Activists complain NGOs spend more time gathering documents for inspections than helping people

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

Prosecutors checking Levada Center pollster as part of NGO inspections

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

Ethnically-Based Force Structures Make Clashes between Republics More Likely

Map of Russia

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, April 22, 2013 – http://windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2013/04/window-on-eurasia-ethnically-based.html) The clash between Chechnya and Ingushetia over the border between the two became possible and is more serious because the authorities in each, with Moscow’s approval, have formed units in their force structures that consist largely or entirely of people from the titular nationality. And because that […]

» Read more

Police Raid Medvedev’s Innovation Hub Over Fraud Inquiry

Skolkovo File Photo

(Bloomberg – bloomberg.com – Ilya Arkhipov & Henry Meyer – April 18, 2013) Russian police raided the Skolkovo innovation hub, a project championed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, a day after his speech to parliament was overshadowed by a leaked video. Investigators talked today to the foundation’s head, billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, and other top officials, Skolkovo spokesman Roman Shcherbakov said […]

» Read more

Case Against Russia’s ‘Bolotnaya’ Protesters Gathers Steam

Russian Riot Police file photo

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – Claire Bigg – April 15, 2013) A helmeted policeman drags a woman down a barricaded street, one arm tightly locked around her neck. Dozens of riot police in full gear look on as the young woman, wearing a short black dress, gasps for air. The scene is captured in a dramatic snapshot taken at a sanctioned […]

» Read more

Presidential Council Member Urges Clear Rules for NGO Checks

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, April 16, 2013) Pavel Chikov, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, said on Monday that a clear set of rules for inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is required. “There are no rules for prosecutors’ checks. In my opinion, this is the main lesson that we should learn from all these […]

» Read more

Russian police says NGOs made no complaints over ‘foreign agent’ checks

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Interfax – Moscow, April 15, 2013) The Interior Ministry has received no complaints against police with regard to checks of non-commercial organizations, Deputy Minister Mikhail Vanichkin has said. “Since the start of the checks, there has not been a single complaint to date from heads of non-commercial organizations against the actions of the police,” Vanichkin told a special meeting of […]

» Read more

Documentary Series Shows ‘Hairs and Wrinkles’ of Opposition Leaders

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – April 8, 2013) Anti-Kremlin leader Alexei Navalny walks methodically past a crowd of protesters standing behind metal barricades on Bolotnaya Ploshchad, heading for a stage. Two baby-faced police officers step out of his way, blank expressions on their faces. “We’re with you,” a man in sunglasses says to Navalny. “Thanks,” Navalny answers […]

» Read more

NGO Inspections Aim to Control Foreign Funding – Putin

Vladimir Putin file photo

(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

Raids on opposition spread to regions

Map of Russia

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Anna Arutunyan – April 2, 2013) Russian law enforcement authorities have widened their search for opposition figures involved in the violent May 6 protest rally last year, with a series of raids in at least four regional cities, activists said. The raids were part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the violence that broke out […]

» Read more

Traffic Law Enforcement Disparity ‘Destabilizes’ Society

Moscow Traffic file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – April 1, 2013) In a meeting with traffic police on Friday, Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said the preferential treatement given to certain “categories of people” for traffic violations significantly destabilized society. He did not specify which categories he was referring to, but in recent years there have been numerous cases in which […]

» Read more

Pistols at dawn: Until the police can be trusted, more Russians will want guns

Makarov Handgun file photo

(Moscow News – themoscownews.com – Konstantin von Eggert – April 2, 2013) “If you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns’ ­ so goes the famous slogan of the National Rifle Association in the US. Until recently, few people thought that this would ever be a contentious issue in Russia. But the case of Alexandra Lotkova, a 21-year-old Moscow student, […]

» Read more

Human Rights Council wants to discuss NGO checks with Russian Prosecutor General

Mikhail Fedotov file photo

(Interfax – MOSCOW. March 28, 2013) Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council is expecting Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika to explain the purposes of numerous inspections of non-governmental organizations (NGO) at the upcoming session of the council in April. “We have asked the Prosecutor General to participate in the council meeting so that representatives of the Prosecutor’s General Office can report […]

» Read more

Human Rights Council members doubt checks of non-profit entities relate to fight against extremism

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. March 28 (Interfax) – Prosecutors inspecting non-profit organizations are performing unusual duties, which are virtually repressive, a member of Russia’s Presidential Human Rights Council and board member of Memorial international society, Sergei Krivenko, said. “We tried to draw an analogy with the current unprecedented inspections in Memorial – nothing like that has happened in the past 25 years. The […]

» Read more

Prosecutor Says Extremism Law Is Behind NGO Checks

Map of Russia

MOSCOW, March 28 (RIA Novosti) ­ A recent series of spot checks on non-governmental organizations in Russia that caused outcry among rights advocates is aimed at establishing their compliance with laws against extremism and the legalization of criminal income, the Prosecutor General’s Office said Thursday. Nationwide NGO inspections have been taking place since last month, and most observers had linked […]

» Read more

Unannounced Checks of NGOs Persist

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Natalya Krainova – March 28, 2013) Prosecutors on Wednesday continued performing unannounced inspections of nongovernmental organizations, checking the Moscow offices of three prominent groups and summoning two human rights leaders for questioning. Officials have inspected about 2,000 NGOs nationwide in the past month, Pavel Chikov, head of the Agora human rights group, said by telephone. […]

» Read more

Authorities search NGOs for ‘foreign agents’

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

More Inspections Hit Rights NGOs in Russia

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW, March 27 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russian state officials continued a wave of raids on prominent rights organizations on Wednesday that activists describe as a renewed pressure campaign against non-governmental organizations in the country. On Wednesday, officials from the Prosecutor General’s Office and tax control service targeted several more NGOs, including the Moscow offices of Human Rights Watch, Transparency International […]

» Read more

Amnesty Intl’s Russian office chief says may be summoned to prosecutor’s office

Kremlin and St. Basil's

MOSCOW. March 25 (Interfax) – The head of Amnesty International’s Russian office Sergei Nikitin announced after police visited the office that he could be summoned to the prosecutor’s office soon. Prosecutors, Justice Ministry and tax officials started an audit on several nongovernmental organizations on Monday, among them Amnesty International, Public Verdict and the Movement for Human Rights. “They spent five […]

» Read more

Checks at Russian NGOs seek to identify ‘foreign agents’ – Justice Ministry

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(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

Former ‘Provocateur’ Blames Police for Bolotnaya Clashes

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – March 22, 2013) A man professing to be a former government operative has said that police officials, including the former interior minister, were involved in organizing clashes at an opposition rally last year, allegations that members of the Kremlin human rights council say could be trustworthy. The online television channel Politvestnik posted […]

» Read more

Arrest and custody, Russian-style

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(www.opendemocracy.net – Grigory Okhotin – February 22, 2031) Grigory Okhotin is a journalist and co-founder of the grassroots police monitoring organisation OVD-Info [‘police-info’]. [Charts here: http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/grigory-okhotin/arrest-and-custody-russian-style] Police custody, violence, trials and imprisonment have been all to common features on the Russian protest landscape since December 2011. A grassroots monitoring project called OVD-info has kept realtime data on the arrests; co-founder […]

» Read more

Police interference often disastrous for businesses – Russian Prosecutor General

Empty Boardroom

MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) – Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika said he was concerned with groundless interference of police in commercial disputes. “The practice of opening groundless criminal cases, arresting enterprises’ accounts and assets hasn’t been eradicated,” Chaika said during his speech at the all-Russian prosecutors’ conference on protecting rights of businessmen. Chaika said that “the number of operational procedures […]

» Read more

The interior ministry attempts to professionalize and reform the Russian police; Inadequate Professionalism in the Police Forces Remains a Problem for the Russian State

File Photo of Russian Policeman with Face Turned Towards Van

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 32 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Richard Arnold – February 20, 2013) New recruits to the Russian police will soon undergo mandatory polygraph tests in order to gain admission to the force. The requirement, introduced in June 2012 as part of a comprehensive reform of the police, will now be introduced in practice […]

» Read more

Navalny Ally’s Apartment Raided

Alexei Navalny file photo

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Yekaterina Kravtsova – February  8, 2013) Investigators on Thursday raided the apartment of Vladimir Ashurkov, director of the Foundation for Fighting Corruption and an anti-Kremlin activist, in connection with a criminal case against opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Navalny, who started the foundation, is accused of stealing 100 million rubles ($3.3 million) from the now-defunct Union […]

» Read more

Police Held Over 5,000 At Russian Political Rallies – Report

Moscow Protest file photo

MOSCOW, February 5 (RIA Novosti) – The police detained at least 5,156 people at political rallies in Moscow and its suburbs in the past 13 months, during modern Russia’s most restive period since the end of the USSR, a new report said. The detentions, often accompanied by violence, were made at some 228 rallies in the period between December 4, […]

» Read more

Police Began Violence At Protest, Panel Says

Kremlin and St. Basil's

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Alexander Winning – February 4, 2013) Members of the Kremlin’s human rights council believe that police, not activists, instigated violence at a May opposition protest, a council member said Friday. “The qualification of the Bolotnaya Ploshchad protest as a mass riot was artificially thought up by the Investigative Committee. It does not reflect the reality […]

» Read more
1 2 3 4 5