Russia’s Ministry of Justice excluded 15 organizations from the register of branches and representative offices of international organizations and foreign non-profit NGOs, including the Carnegie Foundation, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
They were expelled “in connection with the revealed violations of the current legislation,” the department’s website reported .
In particular, the Russian offices of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (USA), Amnesty International Limited (Amnesty International, UK, and the Human Rights Watch Corporation (USA) office) are excluded.
The branch of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (Germany) in Russia, the branch of the registered union Friedrich Ebert Foundation (Germany) in Russia and its representative office in St. Petersburg, the representative office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e.F. ” (Germany) in Russia and its capital branch.
Also, the Russian branch of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (Germany), the branch of the registered association Rosa Luxembourg Foundation – Analysis of Social Development and Civic Education (Germany), the branch of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (Germany), the representative office of the German Research Community in Russia .
The list is completed by the Russian offices of the Aga Khan Foundation (Switzerland), the Vspulnota Polska Association and the Institute for International Education, Inc. (USA).
KEY BACKGROUND
The move comes as international organizations and leaders— including President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen— condemn a Russian missile strike at a railway station in eastern Ukraine on Friday that left at least 50 dead as well as a massacre in a northwest suburb of Kyiv last week where the bodies of 410 civilians were discovered after Russian troops withdrew.Both Amnesty International, an international nonprofit organization focused on human rights, as well as Human Rights Watch, have accused Russia of committing war crimes in Ukraine. Since the start of the war, Russia has ramped up efforts to clamp down on free speech in the country, including with a move last month to block access to major foreign news outlets and to punish anyone spreading “false information” about the war with up to 15 years in prison.