Soros and MacArthur Foundations among 12 NGOs in ‘patriotic stop list’

The Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, drawn up an official “patriotic stop list” of 12 international NGOs they deem threatening for Russian interests. The list has now been submitted for further inspection to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice.

State agencies will now conduct inspections of these NGOs to determine if they should be included in the “undesirable organizations” registry.

The “stop list” includes:

• Open Society Foundations, George Soros’ philanthropic foundation
  
• The MacArthur Foundation, one of the largest private philanthropies based in the USA
  
• The National Endowment for Democracy, a private American nonprofit supported by the US Congress)
  
• The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, an American nonprofit for democracy promotion in developing nations
  
• Freedom House, a US-based NGO dedicated to research on democracy and human rights
  
• The Charles Stuart Mott Foundation, a private foundation based in Michigan
  
• The International Republican Institute, a UN-partnered democracy promotion organization based out of Washington, DC
  
• The Ukrainian World Congress, a coordination assembly for Ukrainian public organizations and diaspora
  
• The World Coordinating Council of Ukrainians, an alliance of NGOs based in Kiev representing Ukrainians both in Ukraine and abroad
  
• The Crimean Field Mission for Human Rights, a human rights monitoring mission coordinated by a number of human rights organizations
  
• The East European Democratic Center, a Polish NGO dedicated to democracy promotion
  
• The Education for Democracy Foundation, a Polish nonprofit supporting democracy education and civil society building
  

Earlier, head of the Federation Council’s Committee on International Affairs Konstantin Kosachev stated that out of the 12 organizations, 7 are “in some way” connected with the USA, 2 are connected with Poland, and 2 with Ukraine.

The Federation Council has written an official “patriotic stop list” resolution in order to draw up a list of organizations considered to pose a threat to Russian interests. The list serves as a recommended registry for including organizations in yet another list – the official “undesirable organizations” list.

The “undesirable organizations” list, in turn, was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin in May 23. According to the law, foreign and international organizations can be declared “undesirable” or “presenting a threat to the basic constitutional order of the Russian Federation, its defense capability, or its state security.” The Attorney General has the power to declare an organization undesirable without court proceedings. If an organization falls under this category, it will be forced to shut down and will be forbidden from holding public events and from possessing or distributing promotional materials, including through the media. Employees of “undesirables” may face criminal proceedings if they fail to comply with orders, and heads of the organizations can face prison sentences of up to 6 years.