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Kremlin does not comment on closure of MacArthur Foundation’s office in Moscow

Media reported earlier that one of the largest US non-profit organizations, MacArthur Foundation, will close its branch office in Moscow which has been working in the Russian capital since 1992
Moscow Kremlin walls (archive) ITAR-TASS/Yuri Mashkov
Moscow Kremlin walls (archive)
© ITAR-TASS/Yuri Mashkov

MOSCOW, July 22. /TASS/. The Kremlin does not comment on reports that MacArthur Foundation plans to close its branch office in Russia, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Wednesday.

"This is not our agenda," Peskov said. Several media reported earlier today that one of the largest US non-profit organizations, MacArthur Foundation, will close its branch office in Moscow which has been working in the Russian capital since 1992. The decision is explained by the fact that the foundation was put on the so-called patriotic stop-list adopted on July 8.

One of the initiators of the patriotic stop-list, Federation Council’s International Affairs Committee chairman Konstantin Kosachev said the list includes "foreign and international non-governmental organizations which by their actions can pose a threat or are already threatening Russia and its national interests."

Under an existing 2012 law, foreign-funded Russian NGOs linked to politics must register with the Justice Ministry as foreign agents.

Legislation requires that NGOs receiving funding from abroad and deemed involved in political activity file a report on their operations to officials every quarter. Law also obliges them to print the term foreign agent on all of their publications. Any such agency failing to comply with the rules could face substantial penalties.