(Reuters) – Russia said on Friday it was banning the Human Rights House Foundation, an Oslo-based non-profit group, accusing it of fomenting social discord in the country.
HRHF is a coalition of 80 independent human rights organisations advocating for freedom of assembly and expression in the western Balkans, the Caucasus, and eastern Europe, including in Ukraine. Much of its funding comes from European Union-based private donors and governments.Projects include defending political prisoners in Belarus and managing an educational and events centre in northern Ukraine.
The Russian prosecutor general’s office said it was declaring HRHF’s activity “undesirable” – amounting to a ban – because the group aimed to “destabilise” the domestic political situation in Russia, discredit its foreign policy, and “shape public opinion about the need to change power in an unconstitutional way.”
It also accused the organisation of “discrediting” the Russian armed forces, an offence under sweeping censorship laws passed in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
When contacted by Reuters, the Human Rights House Foundation declined to comment.
The ban targeted the umbrella organisation and five of its so-called “houses” – in Ukraine’s Chernihiv and Russian-annexed Crimea regions and in Georgia, Armenia, and Lithuania – effectively outlawing any operations of those groups within Russia.
The move follows crackdowns on many foreign NGOs in Russia, including on the local arm of the WWF environmental group and this week on a small U.S.-based charity, the Altai Project, which Russia accused of “sabotaging” the construction of a gas pipeline connecting Siberia to China.
(Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)