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Headquarters of the Böll Foundation in Berlin
Photo: Reiner Zensen / imago images / Reiner Zensen
The Heinrich Böll Foundation cannot continue its work in Russia.
The Russian Prosecutor General's Office has declared the foundation an "undesirable organization" - because it allegedly threatens the country's constitutional order and security.
In fact, the decision amounts to a ban on the foundation in Russia.
In Russia, the classification as "undesirable" is accompanied by additional penal consequences in the event that an affected organization continues to work despite the ban.
If they do, they face up to eight years in prison.
The Böll Foundation is already the 56th foreign non-governmental organization that the Russian authorities have described as "undesirable".
»Anyone who cooperates with us can be prosecuted«
At the beginning of April, Russia had already ordered the closure of several political foundations, including the Böll Foundation, which is close to the Greens.
Now the next step has been taken.
"That's the tougher sanction," Walter Kaufmann, head of the Eastern and Southeastern Europe department at the Böll Foundation, told SPIEGEL.
Anyone on the list of "undesirable organizations" is "toxic for Russian citizens": "Anyone who cooperates with us can be prosecuted."
The step does not come as a surprise.
"We had to reckon with it," says Kaufmann.
Appropriate precautions have been taken in the interests of the employees involved.
The foundation will continue to work on Russia, making sure "not to put anyone in danger".
So you will be very careful and cautious.
In addition to Amnesty International, the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the FDP-affiliated Friedrich Naumann Foundation, the Linke-affiliated Rosa Luxemburg Foundation and the Hanns Seidel Foundation, which is close to the CSU, and the Carnegie Center think tank.
Russian human rights activists, activists and journalists have been complaining about increasing repression for a long time (read more about pressure on independent media here).
So far, for example, numerous civil rights organizations have been classified as »foreign agents«.
slue/ulz/dpa
