Kremlin set to target NGOs by branding them 'foreign agents'
Your support helps us to tell the story
Our mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.
Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.
Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.
Louise Thomas
Editor
Russia is expected to pass laws next week which will impose harsh regulations on all foreign-funded non- governmental organisations involved in political activity.
The move by the ruling United Russia party has been decried by pro-democracy groups as a bid to silence opponents of President Vladimir Putin who was re-elected in May. Grigory Melkonyants, deputy director of Golos, a group that compiled evidence of thousands of electoral violations in Russia's elections, says authorities would have "a hundred different ways to render us ineffective".
The pro-democracy group depends on grants from European nations and the United States.
Golos would have to declare itself a "foreign agent" – a term still synonymous with espionage for Russians who lived through the Cold War.
AP
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments