Russian prosecutors have labeled “undesirable” the activities of the U.S.-Russia Foundation for Economic Advancement and the Rule of Law (USRF), a move that paves the way to its prohibition in the country.
A press release on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office on Friday said the foundation, a U.S. non-governmental organization that has worked to advise private businesses and promote investment in Russia since 2009, had funded Russian NGOs acting as “foreign agents” to influence Russian politics.
“The activities of this organization present a threat to the constitution of the Russian Federation and its national security,” the statement said, adding that the foundation's head, an American citizen, would be barred from the country until 2025.
It requested the Justice Ministry to add the foundation to a list of banned “undesirable organizations” under a law passed earlier this year.
The move comes a day after two NGOs funded by Hungarian-American financier George Soros, the Open Society Foundation and the Open Society Institute’s Assistance Foundation, were declared “undesirable.”
A number of NGOs have been shuttered by a tightening of regulation since Vladimir Putin returned to the presidency in 2012. The Russian government says the crackdown is necessary to protect the country from foreign manipulation.
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