From the American Foreign Policy Council, November 18, 2005
Moscow’s Anti-NGO OffensiveWORRIES WHITE HOUSE.
The Washington Post reports that during his meeting with Russian
President Vladimir Putin at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum
in Pusan, South Korea, President Bush planned to raise concerns over
the latest Kremlin move to tighten control over Russian democracy. A
Kremlin-backed bill introduced in the State Duma would bar foreign
non-governmental organizations from operating offices in Russia and
require all 450,000 of them to re-register with the state to ensure
that they do not engage in foreign-funded political activity. “We have
some pretty serious concerns about it, both the legislation itself and
how it would be implemented,” the newspaper quotes a Bush
administration official as saying.
The Duma, meanwhile, has approved an amendment to the 2006 budget
allocating more than $17 million to support “non-profit organizations
involved in developing the institutions of civil society” in Russia and
to protect the rights of ethnic Russians in the Baltic countries.
“Look, democracy, freedom and human rights are being violated” in the
Baltic states, Deputy Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin of the pro-Kremlin
“United Russia” party told Interfax. “It is necessary to develop
democracy in those countries.”
Compare Volodin’s comments with those of Pat Buchanan in a recent article, reproduced above.