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Russia: The Peace Corps is a CIA Front!!!
Russia moves to rein in NGOs
By Steven Lee Myers in Moscow
November 25, 2005
Russia has moved to impose greater government control over charities and other non-governmental organisations, including some of the world's most prominent, in what critics described as the Kremlin's latest effort to stifle democracy.
The lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval to legislation that would require tens of thousands of Russian organisations to register with the Ministry of Justice. It would also impose restrictions on their ability to accept donations or hire foreigners and ban foreign organisations from opening branches in Russia.
The legislation could yet be significantly revised but, as now written, it would force organisations like Greenpeace or Amnesty International to close their Moscow offices and reregister as purely Russian entities. The legislation does not seem to specify how that could happen and includes restrictions that make it doubtful they would be able to reregister.
Although some of the bill's supporters defended it as an effort to bring order to the registration of 450,000 private groups, others have said it was aimed at preventing foreign efforts to support political opposition movements, like the one that swept to power after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
"We have seen what happened in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and how these local branches of foreign NGOs that are funded by the CIA functioned," said Alexei Ostrovsky, a nationalist MP.
"We want to defend our citizens from the chaos which our country can be dragged into by these foreign NGOs."
The legislation follows sharply worded remarks by President Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, the director of the Federal Security Service, alleging that foreign organisations often undermined Russian interests.
Mr Putin has long faced criticism for strengthening his political authority, despite his avowed commitment to democracy, and the legislation prompted still more criticism.
"This is the last sector of civil society that has not fallen under government control," Alexander Petrov, the deputy director in Moscow for the international group Human Rights Watch, said at a news conference held on Tuesday in the hope of persuading the parliament to reject or at least amend the legislation.
Critics of the law say Russia's restrictions would go beyond those imposed on non-governmental organisations by most of the developed world, including the other members of the Group of Eight.
A legal analysis by the non-governmental groups says that the law would put Russia in line with countries like Turkmenistan, and mentions that even Kazakhstan tried to impose such restrictions, but was ultimately blocked.
Last May Mr Patrushev accused Western organisations - including the US Peace Corps and the British medical charity Merlin - of being fronts for espionage. "Under the cover of implementing humanitarian and educational programs in Russian regions, they lobby for the interests of certain countries and gather classified information on a wide range of issues," he told MPs.
By Steven Lee Myers in Moscow
November 25, 2005
Russia has moved to impose greater government control over charities and other non-governmental organisations, including some of the world's most prominent, in what critics described as the Kremlin's latest effort to stifle democracy.
The lower house of parliament gave preliminary approval to legislation that would require tens of thousands of Russian organisations to register with the Ministry of Justice. It would also impose restrictions on their ability to accept donations or hire foreigners and ban foreign organisations from opening branches in Russia.
The legislation could yet be significantly revised but, as now written, it would force organisations like Greenpeace or Amnesty International to close their Moscow offices and reregister as purely Russian entities. The legislation does not seem to specify how that could happen and includes restrictions that make it doubtful they would be able to reregister.
Although some of the bill's supporters defended it as an effort to bring order to the registration of 450,000 private groups, others have said it was aimed at preventing foreign efforts to support political opposition movements, like the one that swept to power after the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
"We have seen what happened in Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova and how these local branches of foreign NGOs that are funded by the CIA functioned," said Alexei Ostrovsky, a nationalist MP.
"We want to defend our citizens from the chaos which our country can be dragged into by these foreign NGOs."
The legislation follows sharply worded remarks by President Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, the director of the Federal Security Service, alleging that foreign organisations often undermined Russian interests.
Mr Putin has long faced criticism for strengthening his political authority, despite his avowed commitment to democracy, and the legislation prompted still more criticism.
"This is the last sector of civil society that has not fallen under government control," Alexander Petrov, the deputy director in Moscow for the international group Human Rights Watch, said at a news conference held on Tuesday in the hope of persuading the parliament to reject or at least amend the legislation.
Critics of the law say Russia's restrictions would go beyond those imposed on non-governmental organisations by most of the developed world, including the other members of the Group of Eight.
A legal analysis by the non-governmental groups says that the law would put Russia in line with countries like Turkmenistan, and mentions that even Kazakhstan tried to impose such restrictions, but was ultimately blocked.
Last May Mr Patrushev accused Western organisations - including the US Peace Corps and the British medical charity Merlin - of being fronts for espionage. "Under the cover of implementing humanitarian and educational programs in Russian regions, they lobby for the interests of certain countries and gather classified information on a wide range of issues," he told MPs.
Could Greenpeace be a front, too!?
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