NGO bill is fast-tracked by Russian government

The Russian government yesterday rushed a law through ­parliament which will tighten controls on civil rights groups – and has strained relations with the United States.

The lower house overwhelmingly backed the bill in second and third readings under accelerated procedures.

The rapid passage underlined the importance president Vladimir Putin attaches to the law, which will force foreign-funded non-governmental ­organisations (NGOs) that engage in “political activity” to register with the justice ministry as “foreign agents” and to file a report on their operations to officials twice a year.

Critics say the term “foreign agents” echoes back to the Cold War, and that organisations which carry the tag will be seen by many Russians as traitors. They say the law aims to starve such groups of funds and to intimidate them into silence.

Yelena Zhemkova, a director at Russian human rights group Memorial, said: “The law is harmful to the process of developing a civil society.

“Put simply, this law has just one goal and that is to provide a formal reason for labelling your opponents enemies of the state.”

Boris Nemtsov, a former minister and one of the organisers of protests against the president, said: “The law was inspired and pushed by Putin himself as a repressive law on rallies.”

Mr Putin’s United Russia party says the law – which had its first reading in the Duma only a week ago – is needed to protect openness about NGOs.

The party’s Irina Yarovaya, co-author of the bill, said: “This law is no limitation to anything whatsoever. It just makes information public so it is in the best interest of civil society and is not against anybody.”