A large number of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Russia have been suspended after missing a deadline to register with the Russian government. Although they are allowed to continue paying staff, they are not to conduct normal operations until they are “officially” registered. There are between 200-500 domestic and international NGOs active in Russia. Some 80 NGOs have “officially” registered, and another 72 applications are in “pending” status. NGOs encompass a wide range of specialties: religious organizations, charities, social welfare organizations, adoption agencies, human rights organizations, and environmental groups, among others. They all are subject to new legislation designed to monitor the activities of NGOs operating in Russia. The Russian government claims that the law is needed to prevent NGOs from being used to aid terrorism and money laundering and from being manipulated by foreign intelligence services. While many countries have tightened up rules on terrorist financing and are scrutinizing charities more, the Russian legislation is more far-reaching.
While the debate and legislation curtailing the rights of NGOs started almost a year ago, the Russian government has pointed to a January 2006 spying scandal in which British agents were accused of conspiring with NGOs as evidence that NGO activities needed thorough monitoring. The Russian government banned foreign funding of NGOs with political purposes, claiming that foreign governments were using NGOs as a tool for destabilization of Russia and for negative publicity.
The purpose of the registration law, according to Russian authorities, is to give the government the opportunity to review the stated mission of the NGO and to see if both funding and the activities actually match up. In addition, the Russian government claims that they are not outlawing NGOs who failed to meet this deadline and that they still may register. They government also claims that many of the applications for registration were riddled with errors, resulting in a lower successful registration rate. Critics of this registration process claim that the Russian government is trying to silence independent thought and is making the process as difficult as possible for NGOs by placing bureaucratic roadblocks in their way. For example, Human Rights Watch claims they have tried to register on numerous occasions, but the authorities demand different documentation from them with every application.
Russian authorities could make this process as laborious and inefficient as possible without any particular malicious intent. On the other hand, although the government claims that they are not using this process to shut down NGOs, it would not be out of character for the Russian government to target the NGOs they take issue with and to make the process as difficult as possible. In addition, NGOs, especially domestic ones, claim that they are often the subject of harassment.
The Russian government under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin is slowly, but systematically, curtailing independent thought and freedom of expression in the country. He has done this with the media and is now focusing on NGOs. Putin is right that some NGOs make Russia look bad, conspiracies with foreign governments aside. But NGOs are supposed to be the watchdog of the government in a free society. Russia is clearly demonstrating that it is not a free society. It is also likely that other entities will fall under government scrutiny and later state control.