Russia raids human rights groups in crackdown on 'foreign agents'

[2tallbill]

Russia raids human rights groups in crackdown on 'foreign agents'
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are among foreign NGOs targeted

Germany and France summoned Russian diplomats in Berlin and Paris on Wednesday, after Russia launched a series of raids on international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) across the country amid a wider crackdown on critics of the Kremlin.



The sweeps, billed as an attempt to weed out "foreign agents", targeted human rights organisations, environmental advocates, women's groups, non-Orthodox churches, charities and at least one French language school. Among the sites raided were the Moscow offices of the rights groups Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Transparency International.

"This is the planned destruction of the NGO sector in Russia," said Lev Ponomarev, head of For Human Rights, a Russian group that was targeted on Monday. "It's a war on NGOs and the strengthening of the authoritarian police state."

Catherine Ashton, the EU high representative, said she was "concerned" by the raids and said they formed part of "a trend that is deeply troubling".

"The inspections and searches launched against the Russian NGO community and conducted on vague legal grounds are worrisome since they seem to be aimed at further undermining civil society in the country," she said in a statement.

read all about it here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/27/russia-raids-human-rights-crackdown

[2tallbill]

Vladimir Putin's crackdown on NGOs is return to rule by fear
Russia's president has still not recovered from the protests that swept Russia last year –
and wants to ensure they don't return



The unprecedented sweep of civil society groups in Russia shows that Vladimir Putin has shifted to ruling openly by the politics of fear. The powerful president has yet to recover from the protests that swept Russia around his return to the Kremlin last year. Protesters have been arrested, organisers charged, Pussy Riot jailed, and now non-governmental organisations targeted as potential agents of the west.

The sweeps were conducted under a controversial law adopted last year, requiring all NGOs who receive foreign funding to register as "foreign agents". In Russian, the term conjures images of Soviet-era propaganda beseeching citizens to avoid contact with all foreigners. The idea that all foreigners are spies has once again been revived. It began when Putin blamed the protests on Russia's traditional external enemy, the United States.

To many, the raids – in which officials from the prosecutor's office, tax inspectorate and ministry of justice combed through registration and financial documents – came as a surprise. Inside Russia's human rights community it was expected, after Putin suddenly recalled the law during a meeting with officers from his feared security services last month. "It was a classic signal," said Rachel Denber of Human Rights Watch, whose Moscow office was raided on Wednesday.

The net has been cast wide. It is not only the traditional groups of which the Kremlin has long voiced suspicion that have been targeted. Caught up in the raids are NGOs across Russia, including a Catholic church in the southern region of Rostov, a young environmentalist group called Akva in the port city of Novorossiysk, an Aids charity in the region of Bashkortostan. Lest they forget, these groups now know they are being watched.

In a country plagued by a corrupt police force, a politicised justice system, and an often indifferent government, NGOs play a key role. Lev Ponomarev, the 71-year-old head of For Human Rights, which was raided on Monday, calls his group a "last resort" for those seeking justice. He has advised thousands.

read all about it here

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/27/vladimir-putin-crackdown-ngo-russia