The State Duma proposed criminal punishment for the work of foreign NGOs without registration

The State Duma Commission to Investigate the Facts of Interference of Foreign States in the Internal Affairs of Russia proposed to introduce criminal liability for organizing the work of foreign non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country without registration. This was announced by the chairman of the commission Vasily Piskarev.

“We have prepared proposals to introduce criminal liability for organizing in our country the activities of a foreign NGO that is not registered in Russia. On April 18, we will discuss our draft amendments at a meeting of the commission,” quotes Piskarev’s press service.

The MP did not specify what penalties are proposed for the organizers of an unregistered NGO.

According to him, of the 23 organizations declared undesirable in the Russian Federation last year, only one was registered in Russia and worked through a branch. Piskarev said that in this way foreign NGOs “try to escape the attention of regulatory authorities in order not to report on their actions, financial expenses and, accordingly, the true goals of their activities.” The deputy considered the very fact of evading registration as an intention to “engage in illegal activities.”

As an example, Piskarev cited the activities of the German NGO Russia-EU Civil Society Forum, whose activities were declared undesirable in Russia on April 11. The official recalled that its structure includes about 200 different organizations, including 11 Russian NPO-foreign agents. According to him, in Russia, through these NGOs and individuals, Forum has been spreading fakes about internal processes in the country and collecting funds to support the Ukrainian regime since the beginning of the special operation.

Last week, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation acknowledged “Russia-EU Civil Society Forum” undesirable, noting that its goal is “to discredit the leadership of the Russian Federation.” The Facebook forum group (owned by Meta, which was declared extremist and banned in Russia) says that the NGO is engaged in “visa facilitation, the development of civic participation, environmental protection and human rights, historical memory and civic education.”

After the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office, information about the organization is sent to the Ministry of Justice, which enters it into the register of foreign and international NGOs whose activities are recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation. Now the register consists of 80 organizations. The Ukrainian KrymSOS was the last to be included in this list.