Foreign Ministry praises law banning undesirable foreign groups in Russia

View of the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow. (RIA Novosti / Viktor Tolochko)

View of the Russian Foreign Ministry building in Moscow. (RIA Novosti / Viktor Tolochko)

Russia’s deputy FM has told senators that the recently introduced law allowing automatic bans on groups that pose a threat to national security was a necessary step, adding that many such NGOs were in reality funded by foreign governments.

We hold that the passing of the law on undesirable
organizations was without any questions a step in the right
direction
,” Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said at
the Friday session of the Federation Council. He added that the
new law was a significant and much-needed follow-up to the
“Foreign Agents Law” passed in 2012.

Gatilov also said that a long time ago the Russian Foreign
Ministry had noticed that many organizations working abroad as
NGOs were in reality funded by their home country’s governments.

At the same time, the deputy minister stated that recognizing
certain organizations as undesirable must happen only after
serious joint work of several state agencies, and such moves
should target only particular groups, with detailed explanations
at every step.

Next week, the Upper House of the Russian Parliament is scheduled
to look into the list of organizations that can be listed as
undesirable, according to prosecutors’ decisions. Russian media
has reported that the preliminary list includes 15 groups, but
has not disclosed any names.

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The bill on undesirable foreign organizations was signed into law
by President Vladimir Putin in late May. The new law allows the
Prosecutor General’s Office and the Foreign Ministry to create a
proscribed list of “undesirable foreign organizations,” making
the activities of such groups in Russia illegal. The main
criterion for putting a foreign or international NGO on the list
is a “threat to the constitutional order and defense capability,
or to the security of the Russian state.”

Non-compliance with the ban can be punished by administrative
penalties, and for repeated and aggravated offenses can carry
prison sentences of up to six years. Russian citizens and
organizations that continue to work with banned groups would face
administrative fines only.

Foreign and international NGOs, as well as the Russian domestic
rights community, criticized the new law as “exotic” and
“shocking,” while the European Union and the United States have
officially expressed their concern over the new Russian law. The
US State Department said in a statement that the move banning
cooperation with various foreign groups could bring about the
isolation of the Russian people from the outside world.

Russian politicians who had prepared and promoted the bill
replied that it was more of a preventive measure and it was not
targeting any particular organizations.

The so-called “Foreign Agents Law” introduced in late 2012 orders
all NGOs engaged in Russian politics and receiving any funding
from abroad to register as foreign agents or risk substantial
fines. Groups with “foreign agent” status are banned from
sponsoring Russian political parties, but otherwise their
activities are not restricted.

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