Russian NGOs financed from abroad obstructing prosecutorial inspections – spokesperson

(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 inspections by refusing to provide documents and evading meetings with prosecutors,” Prosecutor General’s Office spokesperson Marina Gridneva told Interfax.

“The inspections are designed to make non-governmental organizations performing functions as foreign agents to comply with the law as concerns the filing of an application for being included in the relevant register,” Gridneva said.

The inspections should help reveal positive and negative trends in the NGOs’ operations and analyze the way the existing laws are working, she said.

Officials from prosecution agencies, the Justice Ministry and the Tax Service started sweeping inspections of numerous NGOs operating in Russia at the end of March.

The Justice Ministry reported on Tuesday that it had opened administrative proceedings against the Golos vote-monitoring association and its executive director.