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Russia Names US NGO 'Undesirable'

by VOA News July 28, 2015

Russian prosecutors Tuesday designated the National Endowment for Democracy, a Washington-based non-profit group funded by the U.S. Congress, as 'undesirable' -- making it the first foreign NGO to be banned in Russia under a controversial new law.

In a statement posted on its website, the Prosecutor General's office alleged that the NED, using Russian businesses and non-commercial organizations under its control, participated in activities to delegitimize the outcome of elections, to influence government decisions and to discredit service in Russia's armed forces.

'Taking into account the overall aim of the Endowment's work, prosecutors came to the conclusion that it presents a threat to the constitutional order of Russia, its defense capabilities and state security,' the statement read.

Founded in 1983, the NED makes more than 1,000 grants a year to support the projects of NGOs working for democratic goals in more than 90 countries. It has funded a number of Russian human rights and civil society groups, including the Moscow Helsinki Group, Russia's oldest human rights group active today.

Responding to being named an 'undesirable' organization by the Russian government, the NED said Tuesday that the law on undesirable organizations is "the latest in a series of highly restrictive laws that limit the freedom of Russian citizens.'

"This law, as well as its predecessors, contravenes Russia's own constitution as well as numerous international laws and treaties,' it said in a statement. 'The true intent of these laws is to intimidate and isolate Russian citizens."

The NED said it "remains committed to supporting human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world."

In May, President Vladimir Putin signed a law giving prosecutors the right to declare as 'undesirable' foreign and international non-governmental organizations whose activities are deemed a threat to Russia's constitutional system, 'defense capability or the security of the state.'

Earlier this month, the Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's parliament, formally asked Russia's foreign and justice ministries and Prosecutor General's Office to look into the activities of 12 NGOs, including the NED, after which another American group on the list, the MacArthur Foundation, announced it was closing its Moscow office.

Asked Tuesday about the move against the NED, Sergei Nikitin, Moscow office director for London-based human rights group Amnesty International, said, 'It's not important whether we are talking about the NED or about some other organization. We are witnesses to another dark chapter in the history of our country.

'It is about an unprecedented attack on non-governmental organizations. 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.'