Russia - NGO Law Monitor - Research Center - ICNL

Russia - NGO Law Monitor - Research Center - ICNL
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Global Trends in NGO Law
http://www.icnl.org/research/monitor/russia.html[11/15/2012 2:02:58 PM]
In May 2012 Vladimir Putin regained the presidency. President Putin, in July 2012, signed a law Introducing
Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation Regarding the Regulation of Activities of
Non-commercial Organizations Performing the Function of Foreign Agents. The law will require all noncommercial
organizations (NCOs) to register with a specially authorized governmental body prior to receipt of
funding from any foreign sources if they intend to conduct political activities. Such NCOs are to be called
"NCOs carrying functions of a foreign agent."
Other restrictive laws have been enacted since Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency. In June 2012, 150fold
and 300-fold increases to existing fines for violating rules on the participation in and organization of
public protests for individuals and organizations, respectively, were enacted. In July 2012, libel was
reintroduced as a criminal offence in Russia, which mandates fines on media outlets of up to two million
rubles (approximately $61,000) for producing “libelous” public statements. Also in July 2012, changes
introduced to the Law on "Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection" increased
Internet censorship and curbed the freedom of expression.
[1] On July 17, 2009, Russian President Medvedev signed amendments to the NGO Law.
[2] A Russian version of the amendments is available at http://www.icnl.org/research/library/.
At a Glance
Organizational Forms Non-commercial organizations, public associations
Registration Body Ministry of Justice
Approximate Number Of 220,000 NCOs, 70% are public associations
Barriers to Entry
Barriers to Activities
Barriers to Speech
and/or Advocacy
Barriers to International
Contact
Barriers to Resources
Key Indicators
Certain persons, including foreign persons and stateless persons, may not
become founders, members, or participants.
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Registration procedures are overly bureaucratic, with excessive documentation
requirements.
Burdensome reporting requirements.
Supervisory power allowing for interference with internal affairs of public
associations and NCOs
Potential restrictions against NCO advocacy activity may arise through
application of criminal or administrative penalties codes
No legal barriers
Foreign or international organizations wishing to make tax-exempt grants to
Russian citizens or NCOs must be on a list of organizations approved by the
Russian Government; access to this list is severely limited.
NCOs that carry out political activities and receive foreign funding are labeled
"NCOs carrying functions of a foreign agent."
Population 140,041,247 (July 2009 est.)
Capital Moscow
Type of Government Federation
Life Expectancy at Birth 66.03 years
Literacy Rate 99.4%
Religious Groups
Ethnic Groups
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Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.)
note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of
non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of
Soviet rule.
Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash 1.1%, other or
unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)