Groups in Russia boycott ‘agent’ law

Thursday, November 22, 2012

— Dozens of nongovernmental organizations operating in Russia are refusing to comply with a new law restricting their activities as part of the Kremlin’s crackdown on its critics.

The law, passed several months ago, obliged all nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and are involved in loosely defined political activities to register as “foreign agents” by Wednesday.

But Oleg Orlov, head of the prominent Memorial rights group, said his organization and dozens of others are boycotting the law because it would damage their credibility in Russia, where the word “foreign agent” is synonymous to spy.

“By using this law the authorities are trying to brand us as foreign agents — this phrase has a particularly negative connotation in Russian,” Orlov said.

Among those refusing to comply with the new law are the Moscow Helsinki Group, a leading rights advocate; Golos, Russia’s only independent vote-monitoring group; Agora, a prominent lawyers’ association; and scores of others.

Front Section, Pages 5 on 11/22/2012