Volume 53, Number 7 · April 27, 2006
Russia: The Persecution of Civil Society
By Aryeh Neier, Leonard Benardo
On January 10, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law 'Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation,' which radically curtail the independence of the country's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Russia's parliament, the Duma, had passed the bill in its third reading in late December by a huge majority: 357 in favor and only 20 against. Recalling an earlier era, Putin's signing was not made public until word of it appeared a week later in Rossiskaya Gazeta, the government's official newspaper. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was in Moscow for her first visit, and had publicly expressed her concerns about the bill's impact on nongovernmental organizations, was unaware that the bill was already a law by the time she met Putin.
Feature, 3738 words
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