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Russian lawmakers say will continue work to counter NGOs’ anti-Russian activity

There are plans concerning the need to determine additional measures to counter anti-Russian activity of foreign and international NGOs, a senior member of the Federation Council says
Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council’s constitutional legislation committee Itar-Tass/Anton Novoderezhkion
Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council’s constitutional legislation committee
© Itar-Tass/Anton Novoderezhkion

MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. Lawmakers from Russia's parliamentary upper house will determine during an autumn session new measures to counter anti-Russian activity of foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs), a senior member of the Federation Council said on Friday.

Andrei Klishas, head of the Federation Council’s constitutional legislation committee, said following consideration of the chamber’s request to Russian Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov, there were plans to hold an event "in connection with the need to determine additional measures to counter anti-Russian activity of foreign and international non-governmental organizations".

On July 8, the Federation Council adopted a petition to the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the Foreign Ministry and Justice Ministry, asking them to consider its "stop list" of foreign and international NGOs for possibly including them to the list of "undesirable organizations".

The proposed "stop list" consists of 12 organizations, among them the Soros Foundation, the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the MacArthur Foundation, the Freedom House, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Education for Democracy Foundation, the East European Democratic Center, the Ukrainian World Congress, the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council and the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights.

"This list is not exhaustive," Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told a news conference after the chamber’s spring session, adding that twelve apparently necessary organizations had been put on the list so far.

The list is designed to establish procedures for identifying foreign NGOs whose activity is "undesirable" in the country, making them subject to existing norms of the country’s law on the so-called "undesirable organizations".

The law, adopted this spring, implies that any foreign or international non-governmental organization, "which poses a threat to the foundations of Russia’s constitutional system, defense capability and state security, can be classified as undesirable".

Russia’s Prosecutor General or his deputies can announce that an organization is undesirable on prior consultation with the Russian Foreign Ministry. The decision can be cancelled in the same order. Participation in the activities of an "undesirable organization" will be classified as an administrative offence punishable by a fine. Those who systemically violate this regulation may face criminal charges.

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