Several NGOs in Russia are Being Checked for “Undesirability”
A Russian Duma MP asked Russia’s chief prosecutor to check into five non-governmental organizations and determine whether they present a danger to the state.
As Radio Liberty reports, a Russian lawmaker from the Liberal Democratic Party, Vitaly Zolochevskiy, filed this request on May 25. He asked the authorities to investigate the Carnegie Foundation, Transparency International, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the Memorial Foundation.
If the investigation determines these organizations to be harmful, the deputy is asking to recognize them as “undesirable in the territory of Russia.”
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law where an “undesirable” NGO is defined as one “that poses a threat to the fundamentals of the constitutional system, defense, and national security.” This decision is to be made by the Russian Prosecutor General or his deputies in coordination with the Foreign Ministry.
The U.S. State Department expressed concern over the adoption of this law, “which allows the government to ban the activities of ‘undesirable’ foreign or international organizations,” in Russia and criminalizes any ‘cooperation’ with the groups of that category.”
Earlier, in January, the Maimonides State Classical Academy decided to evict the Moscow Holocaust Center and Foundation from its premises. However, no violations of maintenance or other contract conditions were found by Rosimushchestvo (Russian Federal Agency for State Property Management). In accordance with the contract, the space was for free use.
