“Patriotic stop list” compiled of foreign NGOs
Federation Council is working on a “patriotic stop list” of foreign NGOs
Moscow 3 July 2015
Senators intend to list foreign NGOs that threaten the constitutional order and security of Russia on the “patriotic stop list”. In the Federation Council it was announced that the “patriotic stop list” should be of a preventative nature.
The “patriotic stop-list” should be of a preventative nature and should be a source of quality, well-founded, professional information for Russian organisations, who can then compare their actions to those on the list,” said the Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev. The upper house of parliament explained that the list will include foreign NGOs, “whose direct or indirect actions pose a threat to the constitutional order and security of Russia.”
Kosachev said that today there are “several dozen” candidates for inclusion on the “patriotic stop list” but this does not mean that all of them will be included in the final list. “The idea is not to ban someone from something but rather to warn the representatives of Russian civil society about possible mistakes. The patriotic “stop list” should be an open document and not static. There will not be any final “sentencing” and work should be carried out in the interest of Russian citizens,” he highlighted.
According to ‘Kommersant’, possible candidates for inclusion on the “patriotic stop list” are the International Republican Institute, the National Endowment for Democracy and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gennadiy Gatilov, stated this in front of the Federation Council.
‘Interfax’ reports that the upper house of parliament’s draft statement on the “patriotic stop list” may be ready by 8 July. There are three committees of the Federation Council working on the draft: the Committee on International Affairs, the Committee on Constitutional Legislation and the Committee on Defense and Security.
In May 2015, the State Duma adopted the law on “undesirable organisations”. According to this law, foreign and international NGOs, whose activities threaten “the defense capability or the security of the state” or “the foundations of the constitutional system” can be recognised as “undesirable organisations”. In June, the Prosecutor General’s Office was unable to verify the “undesirability” of a number of NGOs, stating that they lie outside Russian jurisdiction.
Author: Grigory Ivanushkin
