By decision of the Prosecutor General's Office, the Ministry of Justice added The John Smith Trust and MitOst to the register of "undesirable" organizations

The Ministry of Justice has included the German NGO MitOst eV and The John Smith Trust from Great Britain in the register of "undesirable" organizations. This follows from an update to the Ministry of Justice register, which was brought to the attention of the OVD-Info project.

The decisions to recognize these organizations as “undesirable” were made by the Prosecutor General’s Office on June 20 and 26, respectively.

MitOst eV is a Berlin-based non-profit organization that describes itself ( .pdf ) as “promoting cultural exchange, active citizenship, social cohesion and sustainable urban development across cultural, industrial and linguistic boundaries.” MitOst writes that it has over 1,500 members, including participants from Russia and Ukraine.

The John Smith Trust is a foundation that aims to help leaders from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus to help shape more just, sustainable and inclusive societies. The Trust provides scholarships for leadership programmes in the UK.

According to MP Andrei Lugovoi, he wrote a denunciation of The John Smith Trust. In his opinion, the fund "has been recruiting agents for work against Russia for many years, preparing the conditions for the overthrow of state power and the defeat of the country in the SVO."

“Behind all the high-flown words about leadership and development lies a cunning calculation by MI6 employees to obtain information of interest to them and potential contacts for further recruitment,” Lugovoi wrote.