The Ministry of Justice excluded Ecowatch of Sakhalin from the register of foreign agents

The Russian Ministry of Justice excluded the Sakhalin Environmental Watch from the register of non-profit organizations performing the functions of a foreign agent. The head of the organization, Dmitry Lisitsyn, told RIA Novosti about this.

In February, an audit showed that back in September 2015, Ecowatch of Sakhalin stopped receiving money from abroad, returned it to benefactors, and now operates only with the help of donations from Russian citizens and organizations. The organization does not receive government support.

Lisitsyn noted that, despite the decision of the Ministry of Justice, the organization still considers its inclusion in the register of foreign agents in September 2015 to be illegal and is challenging this in the courts - in the European Court of Human Rights and the Supreme Court of Russia.

The regional public organization “Sakhalin Environmental Watch” has been operating since 1997. It implements programs and projects to preserve salmon fish and their habitat, carefully use salmon resources, combat poaching, improve safety and environmental standards in the oil and gas industry, and preserve green spaces in cities.

In March it became known that the Ministry of Justice was ready to exclude 33 organizations from the register of foreign agents. The list includes human rights, environmental and women's NGOs.

At the end of February, the head of the Ministry of Justice, Alexander Konovalov, said that based on the results of five and a half thousand inspections of Russian NPOs in 2016, the department issued 50 thousand warnings, lawsuits and complaints, and also added 43 organizations to the register of foreign agents.

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