Two More Russian NGOs Face 'Foreign Agent' Label

Moscow prosecutors have demanded that two NGOs in Russia provide documents related to their activities.

Civic Assistance Committee Chairwoman Svetlana Gannushkina and Transparency International in Russia press secretary Andrei Zhvirvlis told RFE/RL that prosecutors' representatives visited their offices on January 30 with written demands for them to provide large amounts of documents by February 2. 

The prosecutors' letters said the are required to check the legality of the NGOs activities.

Both Gannushkina and Zhvirvlis say it is neither technically nor physically possible to file the documents that have been demanded by the February 2 deadline.

They also say the prosecutors' demand is part of an ongoing implementation of a controversial 2013 law requiring NGOs that receive funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents."

Rights defenders in Russia say the law itself is part of a crackdown on civil society.

Amendments introduced to the law in June 2014 allow the Justice Ministry to forcefully add NGOs to the list of "foreign agents."