Threatened with being labeled ‘undesirable,’ MacArthur Foundation to shutter its Moscow office
The MacArthur Foundation, an independent American grantmaking organization, has announced that it will close its Moscow branch office.
A statement from MacArthur’s President Julia Stasch on the foundation’’s website reads: “The recent passage and implementation of several laws in Russia make it all but impossible for international foundations to operate effectively and support worthy civil society organizations” in Russia. Stasch refers to a law requiring Russian NGOs involved in “political activities” to register as foreign agents, if they receive foreign funding, and a new law against “undesirable organizations” that allows the government to close international organizations, if they present a “threat” to Russia’s “constitutional order.”
Earlier this month, the MacArthur Foundation and 11 other organizations were included by Russia’s Federation Council on a “patriotic stop list,” which serves as a recommended registry for declaring organizations “undesirable.”
The statement on the MacArthur Foundation’s website notes that, “contrary to the premise underlying the Federation Council’s vote, our activities in Russia, at all times, have been to further charitable purposes and benefit Russian citizens and society. We are entirely independent of the United States government and receive no funding from it. We have never supported political activities or other actions that could reasonably be construed as meeting the definition of ‘undesirable.’”
The MacArthur Foundation is committed to helping to make truly substantial progress on some of the world’s most profound problems. We are saddened that it is not possible to do so in Russia at this time.
The MacArthur Foundation was established in 1978 in the USA and is one of the largest American philanthropies. The foundation works in 60 countries and has branch offices in India, Mexico, and Nigeria. Its total assets amount to $6.3 billion.
The Moscow branch office was established in 1992. Since then, the MacArthur Foundation has awarded more than $173 million in grants to Russian higher education projects, human rights initiatives, and nuclear non-proliferation projects.
In addition to the MacArthur Foundation, the Federation Council’s “patriotic stop list” includes George Soros Open Society Foundations, the National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, Freedom House, the Charles Stuart Mott Foundation, the International Republican Institute, the Ukrainian World Congress, the World Coordination Council of Ukrainians, the Crimean Field Mission for Human Rights, the East European Democratic Center, and the Education for Democracy Foundation. Seven of these organizations are connected with the United States, two are connected with Poland, and another two are tied to Ukraine.