The Russian Justice Ministry ordered the closure of branches of German foundations

The Ministry of Justice accused the branches of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a number of German foundations operating in Russia of violating Russian law.

On Friday, April 8, the Russian Ministry of Justice removed 15 of these offices from the registry of branches and representative offices of international organizations and foreign non-profit organizations. This includes branches of the American Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Branches of German NPOs were affected

In addition, the Ministry of Justice’s decision affected a number of representative offices of German NGOs. The branch of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the branch of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation and its representation in St. Petersburg, the representation of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, the branch of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, the branch of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the branch of the Heinrich Böll Foundation, and the representation of the German Research Society (DFG) were removed from the list.

A similar fate befell the representative office of the Swiss Aga Khan Foundation, the representative office of the Polish association Vspulnota Polska, and the representative office of the American Institute of International Education.

The Russian Ministry explained its position by the “revealed violations” of the law.

 

Source: dw.com