Russia’s state financial watchdog officially blacklists Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation as ‘extremist’

Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) has added Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (the FBK) and Citizens’ Rights Protection Foundation to its blacklist of groups accused of extremist activities or terrorism. This information appeared on Rosfinmonitoring’s website on Tuesday, August 10.

Being included in Rosfinmonitoring's blacklist means Navalny’s organizations will have their bank account blocked and will not be able to open new accounts.

Earlier in the day on Tuesday, the Russian Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against Navalny’s chief of staff, Leonid Volkov, and FBK head Ivan Zhdanov for raising funds to support “extremist” organizations — the FBK and “Team Navalny.”

Rosfinmonitoring added “Team Navalny” — the opposition politician’s now defunct national network of campaign offices — to its blacklist back in April.

• On June 9, the Moscow City Court sided with local prosecutors and blacklisted the FBK, Citizens’ Rights Protection Foundation, and Navalny’s political network as “extremist organizations.” The hearing took place behind closed doors, allegedly due to the fact that some of the case materials were classified. On August 4, an appellate court refused to overturn the extremism designation and it entered into force. Navalny’s associates announced plans to resume fundraising on August 5.