The Ministry of Justice excluded Transparency International Russia from the register of “foreign agents”. Information about this appeared on the department's website.
In March, the organization announced the liquidation of a legal entity in Russia. Before this, the Prosecutor General's Office recognized the international non-profit organization Transparency International as “undesirable”. According to the department, it, “formally acting as an organization fighting corruption around the world, interferes in the internal affairs of the Russian Federation, which poses a threat to the foundations of the constitutional order and security of the Russian Federation.”
Transparency International is registered as a non-governmental organization in Berlin, where it is headquartered, but has national branches in more than 100 countries. Transparency International Russia was recognized as a “foreign agent” in 2015, and in October 2022 its head Ilya Shumanov received the same status.
“Combating corruption in all its forms and reducing tolerance for corruption in Russia will remain our mission and strategic goal in any new format in which we will certainly continue our activities, and international cooperation and civic engagement will inevitably prevail over isolation and dishonesty,” Transparency representatives noted in the liquidation statement.
- The legislation on “foreign agents” is becoming stricter every year. On December 1, 2022, the law “On control over the activities of persons under foreign influence” came into force, as well as numerous legislative amendments to “foreign agency” regulation. You can read about the list of “affiliated persons”, new registers and other innovations in the law on “foreign agents” in the analysis of OVD-Info .
- In the fall of 2021, OVD-Info launched the Inoteka project. We explore the practice of applying laws on “foreign agents”, talk about their impact on civil society and specific people, initiate discussions with experts and suggest ways of possible changes. In December 2021, together with the Center for the Protection of Media Rights, we began to provide legal support to people and organizations that were included in the registers of “foreign agents.”