Two Polish NGOs on Russian blacklist

The Federation Council of the Russian parliament has called on the prosecutor general, the foreign ministry and the justice ministry to investigate its proposed black list of foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The Foundation for Democracy and the Eastern European Centre for Democracy are the two Polish NGOs that join the list that includes seven NGOs from the US and three from Ukraine.

The council's appeal was accepted unanimously by the 156 deputies present in the voting chamber.

“Russia has been the subject of strongest attack in the last 25 years against its interests, values and institutions and that weakens the patriotic unity of the nation,” the appeal read. It went on to describe “soft aggression” against Russia.

The US NGOs on the proposed black list are: the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute (IRI), Freedom House, the Soros Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation and the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The three Ukrainian ones are: the World Congress of Ukrainians, the Ukrainian World Coordinating Council and the Crimean Human rights Field Mission.

The Federation Council had received proposals to add about 60 organisations that are deemed undesirable in Russia to the blacklist of foreign NGOs.

“We are working closely with Russian NGOs, civil society, the Civic Chamber and the Presidential Council,” Konstantin Kosachyov, Head of the International Committee of the Federation Council, said.

As stated in the Federation Council’s draft resolution, the blacklist includes “a number of foreign and international non-governmental organisations known for their anti-Russian sentiments.” (jh)