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12:58 PM ET
Russia's civil society crackdown continues
By Tanya Lokshina, Special to CNN
Editors note: Tanya Lokshina is a senior researcher and deputy Moscow director at Human Rights Watch. The views expressed are her own.
The Kremlins announcement last week that it was kicking USAID out of Russia is the latest step in a crackdown on foreign-funded civil society groups. Its a trend that has intensified since Vladimir Putins return to the presidency in May, with the parliament hastily adopting new restrictive rules for non-governmental organizations. Groups that get even a kopeck of foreign money in their budget will be required to officially register as foreign agents. In Russian, that is pretty much understood to imply foreign spies, making many here in Russia believe the law aims to marginalize and discredit groups that advocate policy change.
The new law wont enter into force until late autumn, but you can already see it in action. At least, I did, during a recent trip to Russias provinces. While the Justice Ministry is still working out the new laws implementing regulations, regional officials are apparently already trying to please their federal bosses by exhibiting exemplary exuberance for the new provisions.
A couple of weeks ago, a fascinating internal document started circulating on social networks. It is a photocopy of a letter dated August 9 on the letterhead of administration chief for the Mari El Republic in Russias Volga region, addressed to heads of local government agencies and services. The document cites growing concern regarding activization of foreign and domestic non-profit organizations and calls on the officials to mitigate these threats. They are instructed in particular to ensure that their staff at all levels minimize participation in programs and socio-political events funded by foreign and Russian non-profit groups. To translate from the bureaucratese, this means local officials are effectively ordered to stop cooperating with these groups. As simple as that.
Human Rights Watch sent an inquiry to that office seeking confirmation of the documents authenticity and status. No answer so far, but our recent experience in another region of Russia provides strong reason to believe that there have been warnings to officials, and not just in the Volga region, about contact with civil society groups, especially foreign and foreign-funded ones.
Russia's civil society crackdown continues – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs