The Hunt for Agents
The Campaign against Non-governmental Organisations in Rus-sia
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
In mid-2012, the Russian Duma passed the so-called “foreign agent law”: since then, NGOs receiving funding from foreign foundations have been required to register as “foreign agents”. The law was a direct response to the 2011-12 protest movement: the election observation organization Golos came under the most immediate and sustained pressure. By means of civil disobedience and legal action, the remaining NGOs were able to hold off the first attacks. But in the spring of 2014 – after the revolution in Ukraine – a second wave of inspections got under way. The consequences have been much more serious. Most NGOs can hardly work anymore, the existence of many is at risk.
(Osteuropa 1-2/2015, pp. 83–94)