Levada-Center: Russia at risk of becoming reservation “for the poor and aggressive”

Lev Gudkov, director of independent, non-governmental, and non-profit polling and sociological research organization Levada-Center, has published a statement saying that Russia faces the threat of becoming a reservation “for a poor and aggressive population consoling itself with illusions of national superiority and exclusivity.” He composed this statement in light of the fact the Levada-Center was added to the government’s list of “foreign agents” on Monday.

According to Gudkov, Russia’s law on non-profits and NGOs offers administrative bodies the opportunity to engage in completely arbitrary action due to its unclear definitions of the terms “political activities” and “foreign funding”. The actions of the Ministry of Justice, said Gudkov, restrict Russia’s ties with foreign scientists, which, in turn, hinders Russia’s prospects for progress.

“This policy of discrediting and destroying all of the best that is in Russia’s civil society is not just a disgrace to the country, but, more importantly, leads to the suppression of the sources [necessary for] its development, as well as to stagnation, inevitable degradation – moral, intellectual, and social – apathy, and the decomposition of the state and society,” wrote Gudkov.

On September 5, 2016, Russia’s Ministry of Justice announced that Levada-Center had been added to the country’s list of foreign agents as per the result of an impromptu inspection.