Russian Human Rights Commissioner Vladimir Lukin is collecting information on ongoing inspections of non-profit organizations (NPOs) to provide it to President Vladimir Putin, RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday.

“We are collecting materials on why this check is being carried out, what are the real grounds for the check, what are they checking,” Lukin told reporters on Tuesday. According to him, the Ombudsman’s Office has approached a number of human rights organizations that have been subject to inspections with a request to send documents and express an opinion on the legality of the inspections.

Vladimir Putin on Thursday, March 28, called on the Prosecutor General’s Office to “avoid excesses” when conducting inspections of NPOs. He also instructed Lukin to keep the progress of inspections under control.

Massive inspections of NPOs have taken place over the past month in a number of regions of Russia. Inspections included such well-known organizations as Memorial, Agora, the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Movement for Human Rights, the Russian offices of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Transparency International. Human rights activists believe that the checks are caused by the law on “foreign agents” that came into force in 2012. The Prosecutor General's Office stated that the inspections are planned and are designed to identify extremist organizations. On Wednesday, human rights activists reported that the Prosecutor General’s Office began fining NGOs.

Lukin will report to Putin about inspections at NPOs