Russia’s Justice Ministry on Monday declared the Levada Center, the most influential independent polling organization in Russian Federation, a foreign agent just two weeks before parliamentary elections. Centre director Lev Gudkov said that its documents have been inspected and that it would not be able to continue operating.
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The term “foreign agent” is part of a 2012 law governing groups which receive foreign funding and engage in political activity.
The decision comes less than a week after the respected pollster founded by and named after the late sociologist Yuri Levada published its latest election survey, indicating a drop in the ruling party’s ratings.
Under the amendments to the law, which were adopted this year, political activity is linked to such fields as state-building, securing Russia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, enforcement of law, order and security, national defense, foreign policy, political system integrity, social and economic and national development of the country, regulation of rights and freedoms of man and citizen.
The Russian law’s influence is also thought to have extended beyond Russia’s borders, with free-media and democracy campaigners like US -based Freedom House noting the legislation has spawned similar laws elsewhere in Eurasia. “That said, the foreign agent label can have a bad impact on our activities, on the perceptions of those polled”. In other words, Gudkov explained, the organization will likely be forced to close down, if it is unable to appeal the Justice Ministry’s decision.
In July 2016, the Pro-Kremlin “Anti-Maidan” movement accused Levada of receiving more than $120,000 (£90,000) from the United States government since 2012 and called on it to look at whether it should be designated a “foreign agent”, the Moscow Times reported.
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But he added that Levada’s offices were searched after it noted a decline in the popularity of the ruling United Russia party.
