Putin signs off law on NGO «political activity»
02.06.2016
This document has been published on the official legal information web portal.
The Bill clarifying the meaning of “political activity” under the “foreign agents” law has been signed by the Russian President. The federal law amending Article 8 of the law on “Public Organisations” and Article 2 of the law on “NGOs” has been posted on the official legal information web portal.
The Second and Third Readings of the Bill were approved by the State Duma on 20 May. The text at First Reading had come in for sharp criticism from the entire NGO community, as well as raising concerns from charities. As a result, the Duma Committee of Public Associations and Religious Organisations supported an amendment that excluded the possibility of NGOs engaged in charitable work being classed as “foreign agents” which was later endorsed by the Federation Council.
There are currently 130 NGOs on the “foreign agents” register. 30 of the total are no longer classed as foreign agents, 12 of the 30 have been removed from the list for having “ceased to be a foreign agent”, with the remaining 18 having gone out of business. The most recent body to be included on the register was the AIDS-service organisation “Community”.
Author: Georgy Ivanushkin
