A VIGILANT OFFICIAL GOT TO THE KING

WE AND THE WORLD

On Tuesday, Moscow hosted a meeting between Anatoly Panchenko, Deputy Head of the Department for Political Parties and Public Organizations of the Federal Registration Service (FRS), and heads of foreign non-profit...

On Tuesday, Anatoly Panchenko, Deputy Head of the Department for Political Parties and Public Organizations of the Federal Registration Service (FRS), met with heads of foreign non-profit organizations in Moscow. It was about the difficulties that foreign NGOs face when re-registering.

Russia changed the rules of the NGO game last year. The country accepted the innovations with tension, and not only ours. In December last year, the US Congress even passed a resolution in which it demanded that the Russian authorities withdraw the bill or make significant changes to it. But neither America nor Russian public opinion decreed the State Duma, and the law on NGOs was nevertheless adopted.

According to the new law, all foreign public organizations operating in Russia must re-register before October 18. A month before X hour, the Fed agreed with them to discuss the problems that arise in connection with the re-registration. So far, only 26 organizations have been able to re-register (8 of them on the first attempt), 87 more have applied. (Before the innovations, there were from 200 to 500 NPOs with foreign participation in Russia.)

As it turned out during the conversation, the problems are of a formal nature, but reflect the deep difference between the Russian mentality and the Western one. In the opinion of foreign guests, Russia, represented by the FRS officials, makes a lot of claims that are not entirely clear to the officials themselves. For example, when asked why a French organization should adopt its charter in such a way that it meets the requirements of not French, but Russian legislation, Anatoly Panchenko could not answer. Foreigners still do not understand why the charters of “parent” organizations should include information about the branch that the organization opens in Russia, or why, when submitting documents, detailed information about the founders of the “parent” NPO is needed. “We have an example of an organization,” Anatoly Panchenko lamented, “which was established in the 17th century by decree of the king. This document indicates only the name of the king ... ". The official clearly regretted the impossibility of requesting the notarized passport details of the autocrat.

The representative of Germany observed that in democratic countries it was considered a serious offense to provide personal information about a citizen without his consent. The remark that in Germany the place of residence (which is required by the FRS from the founders) is not indicated even in the passport, Panchenko retorted as follows: “There are also many such citizens in Russia - they are called homeless.”

There was also a heated discussion about why, under the new law, foreign NGOs are allowed to open only one branch in Russia (there was no restriction before). At the same time, the topic of taxation surfaced: if there is one branch (for example, in Moscow), and in other regions - its divisions, then taxes will go exclusively to the capital's treasury. Anatoly Panchenko suggested that those NGOs that care about the filling of regional budgets register their headquarters not in Moscow, but in some depressive subject of the Russian Federation.

The official pleased the audience with a message that after October 18 (the date of the end of re-registration), life will continue, and newly created branches of foreign NGOs will also be registered. Organizations already operating in Russia that have not passed re-registration on time will be able to do this later, but they will have to suspend their activities while the documents are being processed. True, according to the Fed official, "the love for them is not infinite."

As for the potential danger that some NGOs allegedly pose for Russia, it is up to “other departments” to identify such a danger. As Anatoly Panchenko explained, refusal to register due to extremism is possible in two cases - either if extremism is recorded as a statutory task, or by a court decision on “the undesirability of the presence of representatives of a particular organization on the territory of Russia.” According to the official, there are already precedents for such court decisions.

PS In the meantime, it became known how the Public Chamber of Russia divided the 250 million rubles provided for in the 2006 budget for the development of civil society. The list of main contenders for grants includes 17 NGOs headed by members of the chamber itself (Anatoly Kucherena's Civil Society Movement, Leo Bokeria's National Health League, Irina Rodnina's Sports Russia, and so on).