The Ministry of Justice removed from the electronic register the reason for the recognition of the NKO-Agens

The Ministry of Justice deleted information about the structure, sources of financing, goals and activities of NPOs recognized as “foreign agents” from the electronic register. Changes are visible on the website of the department.

The form of maintaining an electronic registry is regulated by the order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia No. 223 of November 30, 2012. On June 28, 2021, the department made changes and canceled some columns. Now in the register you can only see the date of inclusion and the general data about the organization.

“The Ministry of Justice cannot fully hide such information. At least when appealing the status of a “foreign agent”, the Ministry of Justice will have to provide information about what formally the organization was entered into the register. It is not the formal side of the question that is interesting here: information about what organizations were included in the register and financing information are key things that society must know. Exactly on these data a decision is based on the inclusion of the organization in the register. I think that this is a reaction to that public campaign that is now unfolding around the law on “foreign agents”. This decision of the Ministry of Justice adds opacity to the entire process of entering into the register. Now from the data it is not clear what “political activity” was performed by organizations and what financing was considered foreign. The lack of this information is largely emphasized by the discriminatory nature of the application of this law, ”comments Alexander Baeva, lawyer of the ATS-Info.

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