Russian Federation Labels US’s National Endowment for Democracy ‘Undesirable’ Under Law

“Using Russian commercial and noncommercial organizations under its control, the National Endowment for Democracy participated in work to declare the results of election campaigns illegitimate, organize political actions intended to influence decisions made by the authorities, and discredit service in Russia’s armed forces”, the statement said.

Prosecutors said that in 2013 and 2014 the foundation gave funding worth around $5.2 million to local organizations.

Russian Deputy Prosecutor General Vladimir Malinovsky instructed the Justice Ministry to designate the group as a threat to the country’s security, reported by an e-mailed statement on Tuesday.

Russians who continue working for such groups face up to six years in prison.

“All of these organizations will be not be publicizing their work because any publicity, an interview, any mention of such an organization in the media will be treated by the justice ministry and prosecutors as political activities”, thus exposing them to danger, Kalyapin said.

The U.S.is also concerned that this law would put more obstacles in the way of civil society’s functioning in Russia and is yet another example of the Russian government’s consistent steps toward harassing independent voices and isolating Russians from the rest of the world, he said.

“This law, as well as its predecessors, contravenes Russia’s own constitution as well as numerous global laws and treaties”, the endowment said in a statement.

The organisation slammed the choice from the prosecutors and stated the goal of the undesirable regulation was “to intimidate and isolate Russian residents”.

Earlier this month, Russian senators drew up an official proposal to blacklist 12 foreign non-governmental organizations, including the Endowment.

Critics say the law stifles civil society under President Vladimir Putin.

Russian activists on Wednesday blasted an official decision to label the US National Endowment for Democracy an “undesirable” organisation, cutting them off from a key source of funding.

On Tuesday, the Committee to Prevent Torture, a Russian human rights organization based in Nizhny Novgorod, announced it had decided to close its doors after losing a lengthy court battle over the “foreign agents” tag.

Another US rights group, the MacArthur Foundation, said last week it was closing its Moscow office after it was placed on a list of “undesirable” NGOs by the upper house of parliament.

“All of these limitations that we see – one law after another, foreign agents, undesirables – they are an integral part of a growing wave of repression aimed at the suppression of freedom of speech, the omission of debate, and the stifling of freedom of expression”.

Dozens of organisations including leading human rights groups have been hit by the legislation, which evokes Soviet-era anti-US rhetoric.