Russia: restrictive law on Ngos comes into force

In January 2006 the Russian President Wladimir Putin has signed a series of amendments to key laws regulating the activities of non-governmental organisations and foundations in Russia. The new regulations will put the activities both of Russian NGOs and of their international partner organisations under strong governmental control and will hamper the development of a civil society in Russia as well as the the fostering of European-Russian cooperation in the field of civil society. The new amendments provide a convoluted set of regulations on many aspects of NGO activity including registration, inspection, cause for closure, and foreign participation in domestic NGO activity. The law, which lacks clarity on the processes and regulations for these requirements, is set to come into force on April 19, 2006. In March 2006 IREX (www.irex.org) as part of USAID’s Civil Society Support Project hosted in cooperation with the Russian Donor?s Forum a public lecture analyzing the theoretical implications of the new amendments and potential repercussions for domestic and international NGOs. A brief outlineof the lecture will soon be available in Russian at www.irex.ru