Moscow – Russia moved Wednesday to impose greater government control over charities and other private organizations, including some of the world’s most prominent, in what critics described as the Kremlin’s latest effort to stifle civil society and democracy.
The lower house of parliament voted 370-18 to give preliminary approval to legislation that would require tens of thousands of Russian organizations to register with the Ministry of Justice.
It also would restrict their ability to accept donations or hire foreigners and would prohibit foreign organizations from opening branches in Russia.
The legislation could still be significantly revised, but as now written, it would force such organizations as the Ford Foundation, Greenpeace and Amnesty International to close their offices here and reregister as purely Russian organizations.
The legislation does not specify how that would happen and includes some restrictions that make it doubtful the groups could reregister.
Although some of the bill’s supporters defended it as an effort to bring order to the registration of 450,000 private groups, others have said it was aimed at preventing foreign efforts to support political opposition movements like the one that swept to power after the “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine last fall.
The legislation follows sharply worded remarks by President Vladimir Putin and Nikolai Patrushev, the director of the Federal Security Service, that foreign organizations often undermined Russian interests. Russia already has moved to close some groups that it accuses of extremism, such as the Russian- Chechen Friendship Society.
“Let us resolve the internal political problems of Russia ourselves,” Putin said this summer, criticizing nongovernmental organizations involved in what he called political activities.
Putin has long faced criticism for strengthening his political authority, despite his avowed commitment to democracy, and the legislation prompted still more criticism.
“This is the last sector of civil society that has not fallen under government control,” Alexander Petrov, deputy director in Moscow for the international group Human Rights Watch, said at a news conference held Tuesday in hopes of persuading the parliament to reject or at least amend the legislation.
Critics of the law say Russia’s restrictions would go beyond those imposed on nongovernmental organizations by most of the developed world, including the other members of the Group of Eight, of which Russia is a part.
A legal analysis by the nongovernmental groups says that the law would put Russia in line with countries like Turkmenistan, and mentions that even Kazakhstan tried to impose such restrictions, but ultimately was blocked.
Thomas Casey, a State Department spokesman, said: “We have made our concerns known to the Russian government on this issue and remain in close contact with them. This is only the first step in a multistep process before any proposal could become law.”
Earlier this year, Patrushev accused Western organizations – including the Peace Corps and the British medical charity Merlin – of being fronts for espionage.
“Under the cover of implementing humanitarian and educational programs in Russian regions, they lobby for the interests of certain countries and gather classified information on a wide range of issues,” Patrushev told members of parliament in May, referring to private organizations.
His remarks prompted unusually strong public rebukes from the United States and Britain, but the legislation he called for at the time became the basis for what parliament adopted Wednesday, despite a further outpouring of criticism once the bill appeared on the agenda.