Background

On May 26, 2004, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a message to the Federal Assembly, accused non-governmental organizations of “receiving funding from influential foreign foundations and serving dubious group and commercial interests.” On June 2, human rights activists noted in a joint statement that reproaches against them are “the beginning of a new campaign of attacks on the democratic opposition and civil society in Russia.” On July 20, 2005, the President again spoke about the inadmissibility of “financing illegal political activities” from abroad. Six months later, the State Duma adopted amendments to the law on NPOs, tightening the rules for their registration and activities.

On January 22, 2006, the Rossiya TV channel showed Arkady Mamontov’s film “Spies,” in which , with the help of FSB operational footage, the activities of British embassy employees were exposed. It alleged that one of the British provided financial assistance to such human rights organizations as the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Eurasia Foundation. The head of the MHG, Lyudmila Alekseeva, called the accusations slander, but was unable to win a claim for the protection of business reputation in the Savyolovsky court against Mr. Mamontov and the VGTRK company.

In January 2007 , the head of the Educated Media Foundation (Russian branch of the Internews International organization) , Manana Aslamazyan, was detained at Sheremetyevo airport with undeclared €9.5 thousand. The human rights activist explained that she confused euros with dollars, as a result of which she exceeded the amount allowed for import without declaration $10 thousand. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs suspected her of participating in a “gray” scheme for financing NPOs and opened a criminal case on smuggling. In April, searches were carried out at the foundation's office, after which the Prosecutor General's Office accused the organization of illegal business and money laundering. This led to the liquidation of the fund, and Mrs. Aslamazyan herself left for France. On June 10, 2008, the Investigative Committee under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation terminated her criminal case based on the decision of the Constitutional Court, which changed the rules for opening a smuggling case.

Scandals with NGO financing