Germany and France summoned Russian diplomats in Berlin and Paris on Wednesday, after Russia launched a series of raids on international non-governmental organizations (NGO) across the country amid a wider crackdown on critics of the Kremlin.
The sweeps, billed as an attempt to weed out “foreign agents,” targeted human rights organizations, environmental advocates, women’s groups, non-Orthodox churches, charities and at least one French language school.
Among the sites raided were the Moscow offices of the rights groups Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Transparency International.
“This is the planned destruction of the NGO sector in Russia,” said Lev Ponomarev, head of For Human Rights, a Russian group that was targeted on Monday. “It’s a war on NGOs and the strengthening of the authoritarian police state.”
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said she was “concerned” by the raids and said they formed part of “a trend that is deeply troubling.”
“The inspections and searches launched against the Russian NGO community and conducted on vague legal grounds are worrisome since they seem to be aimed at further undermining civil society in the country,” she said in a statement.
The German foreign ministry summoned the No. 2 diplomat in the Russian embassy in Berlin on Tuesday “to express the German government’s concern” over the raids.
Two German NGOs in Moscow and Saint Petersburg were raided earlier this week. Hans-Gert Pottering, chairman of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung foundation in Saint Petersburg, said officials had seized four of the group’s computers.
The French foreign ministry sent a note to its Russian embassy on Wednesday demanding an explanation, but said in a statement that the ambassador had been “invited” for a discussion.
The US embassy in Moscow said via its Twitter feed: “It is with great concern that we are following reports of unprecedented inspections of NGOs across Russia.”
Prosecutors, tax inspectors and officials from the justice ministry have conducted unannounced “checks” on more than 80 organizations around Russia, said Pavel Chikov, the head of Agora, a legal group that provides assistance to activists.
Thousands more are expected to be targeted, he said. Agora was raided on Wednesday.
The sweep comes eight months after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a widely criticized law demanding that NGOs which receive funding from abroad label themselves as “foreign agents.” Critics said the law was reminiscent of Soviet-era efforts to demonize foreigners and those “collaborating” with them.
A handful of groups, including For Human Rights, have refused to follow the law.
“I am not a foreign agent,” said Ponomarev, adding that following the law — which includes stamping “foreign agent” on all paper and electronic documents — would make his work impossible.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
The Russian minister of foreign affairs warned the US, South Korea and Japan against forming a security partnership targeting North Korea as he visited the ally country for talks on further solidifying their booming military and other cooperation. Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov spoke on Saturday in Wonsan City, North Korea, where he met North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and conveyed greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim during the meeting reaffirmed his government’s commitment to “unconditionally support and encourage all measures” taken by Russia in its conflict with Ukraine. Pyongyang and Moscow share identical views on “all strategic issues in
IDENTITY: A sex extortion scandal involving Thai monks has deeply shaken public trust in the clergy, with 11 monks implicated in financial misconduct Reverence for the saffron-robed Buddhist monkhood is deeply woven into Thai society, but a sex extortion scandal has besmirched the clergy and left the devout questioning their faith. Thai police this week arrested a woman accused of bedding at least 11 monks in breach of their vows of celibacy, before blackmailing them with thousands of secretly taken photos of their trysts. The monks are said to have paid nearly US$12 million, funneled out of their monasteries, funded by donations from laypeople hoping to increase their merit and prospects for reincarnation. The scandal provoked outrage over hypocrisy in the monkhood, concern that their status
‘FALSE NARRATIVE’: China and the Solomon Islands inked a secretive security pact in 2022, which is believed to be a prelude to building a Chinese base, which Beijing denied The Australian government yesterday said it expects China to spy on major military drills it is conducting with the US and other allies. It also renewed a charge — denounced by Beijing as a “false narrative” — that China wants to establish a military base in the South Pacific. The comments by a government minister came as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a six-day visit to China to bolster recently repaired trade ties. More than 30,000 military personnel from 19 nations are set to join in the annual Talisman Sabre exercises from yesterday across Australia and Papua New Guinea. “The Chinese military have
RSS