Russian officials ban another ‘undesirable’ U.S. nonprofit, calling the group a national security threat

The Russian Attorney General’s Office has banned the U.S.-based Pacific Environment and Resources Center as an “undesirable” organization, saying the group “represents a threat to the Russian Federation’s constitutional system and state security.”

Next, the Justice Ministry is supposed to add the center to its formal registry of “unwanted NGOs” — a list that currently names 14 groups, including the National Endowment for Democracy, the Open Society Foundation, the Institute of Modern Russia, the German Marshall Fund, and others.

What does this organization do in Russia?

• According to its own website, the Pacific Environment group works with local and indigenous partners in the Russian Far East, Siberia, and the Altai Territory to “defend the region’s natural and cultural treasures against fossil fuel extraction, reckless gold mining, and illegal logging.” Being blacklisted as an undesirable organization is bad news in Russia. Cooperating in any way with one of these groups carries stiff criminal penalties, and the organizations themselves are prohibited from disseminating information inside Russia, including on the Internet.