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The sealed door of the office of the human rights organization Amnesty International in Moscow (archive image)
Photo: MAXIM ZMEYEV/ REUTERS
Russia is closing the offices of several foreign non-governmental organizations, including German party foundations and the human rights organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
According to the Ministry of Justice, they were "excluded from the official register of foreign non-governmental organizations" in Russia for "violations of Russian law".
This corresponds to the de facto closure, according to Amnesty.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the 15 organizations affected include the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, which is close to the SPD, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, which is close to the FDP, the Heinrich Böll Foundation, which is close to the Greens, and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, which is close to the left and the CSU-affiliated Hanns Seidel Foundation.
Also affected is the think tank Carnegie Center.
The Böll Foundation announced that it had worked for the "vision of a free, democratic Russia" for more than 30 years.
"Unfortunately, the Russian leadership under President (Vladimir) Putin has steered the country in the opposite direction for many years."
Amnesty International issued a statement on the closure of the Moscow office.
"You are doing something right when the Kremlin is trying to silence you," wrote Amnesty Secretary-General Agnès Callamard.
Russian human rights activists, activists and journalists have also been complaining for a long time about increasing repression in the largest country in the world in terms of area.
So far, for example, numerous civil rights organizations have been classified as »foreign agents«.
In the course of Russia's war against Ukraine, several independent media outlets have also been blocked in recent weeks or given up under pressure from the authorities.
In March, Russian authorities also passed a number of laws that Russians believe would punish "false information" about the conflict with heavy prison sentences.
jso/AFP/dpa
