Kiev, Ukraine – Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice chided Russia on Wednesday over a Kremlin- backed proposal that could significantly limit the role of activist groups and nongovernmental organizations, particularly foreign ones.
Rice, who has sought to avoid a public confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the issue, said the United States had concerns about the legislation.
“We would certainly hope that the importance of nongovernmental organizations to a stable, democratic environment would be understood by the Russian government,” Rice said after a meeting in Kiev with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Russian analysts widely see the legislation, which is making its way through the Duma, or parliament, as an attempt to limit foreign influence in Russia.
They suspect that Putin is pushing the law to ensure that there’s no repeat in Russia of the kind of people-power revolution that has swept reformers into office in Ukraine, Georgia and other former Soviet states.
The “Orange Revolution” a year ago in Ukraine saw a major role for activists who had been trained by U.S. government-funded democracy foundations.
The Russian measure would restrict foreign funding for nongovernmental organizations and make it more difficult for foreign groups to register.
All nongovernmental organizations and similar groups would have to re-register with the Russian state.
