12.10.2015

References to non-profit organisations removed from the register have been deleted.

The Russian Ministry of Justice has made changes to the ‘foreign agents’ register. The column ‘removed from the register’ has been erased, and NGOs which have exited the register have been deleted. Thus there are currently 84 entries on the register.

“It could be said that the Ministry of Justice heard criticism about remaining on the list forever and adjusted the table. I modestly note my perception: first and foremost, it is not simply a reaction to criticism, but a change of aims. Before, the goal was to defame with all the attendant consequences, but now it is to encourage the purchase of a ticket to exit the register through the renunciation of foreign funds”, wrote Natalia Taubina, the Director of the Public Verdict Foundation, on her personal Facebook page.

According to the law regulating the procedure for exiting the register, an organisation wishing to be removed must not make use of foreign funds or carry out ‘political activities’ for one year before applying. Experts from the non-profit community had criticised the procedure, emphasising that those organisations removed from the register continued to appear in the list on the Ministry of Justice’s website with the label ‘cessation of foreign agent activities’ in the ‘reason for removal’ column.

Author: Georgii Ivanushkin

http://www.asi.org.ru/news/minyust-moderniziroval-reestr-inostrannyh-agentov/