The Endowment, the statement continued, “participated in work to declare the results of election campaigns illegitimate, to organize political demonstrations aimed at influencing decisions taken by state institutions and to discredit service in the Russian armed forces”. In 2013 and 2014, the Endowment provided about $5.2 million (4.7 million euros) in funding to local organizations, as said by Russian prosecutors. The main criterion for putting a foreign or global NGO on the list is a “threat to the constitutional order and defense capability, or to the security of the Russian state”.
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The controversial new law could see Russian activists jailed for up to six years for “participation in the activities” of any banned organisation.
The NED responded in a statement saying: “This law, as well as its predecessors, contravenes Russia’s own constitution as well as numerous worldwide laws and treaties”.
“The law on undesirable organizations is the latest in a series of highly restrictive laws that limit the freedom of Russian citizens”, NED said in a statement.
“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 organisation slammed the decision from the prosecutors and said the aim of the undesirables law was “to intimidate and isolate” Russians.
The National Endowment for Democracy says it receives funding from the US Congress to bolster organisations “working for democratic objectives in additional than ninety nations”.
The NED said it “remains committed to supporting human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the world”.
When asked to comment on the fact that the National Endowment for Democracy has been placed on the register of undesirable organizations, Peskov said, “All this conforms with our legislation”.
The foundation is the first victim of a new law to expel foreign NGOs believed to be working against Russian interests.
The law enhances Russia’s attempts to deter its citizens from joining foreign-instigated movements to support opposition political activities in a country that has grown increasingly authoritarian since President Vladimir Putin returned to the Kremlin helm in 2012.
Among the other organisations on the lawmakers’ list was the U.S.-based MacArthur foundation, which last week announced it was closing its office in Moscow.
In Russian Federation, legislators have a longish hit list of organizations they would like to banish from their shores, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty worldwide, Carnegie Moscow Center, and the C.S. Mott Foundation.
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The law on undesirable organizations was passed by the government in May in a move that was seen as signaling its growing fear of a foreign-inspired revolution.
