Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Russia: Online Petition Seeks to Increase Controls on Foreign-Funded NGOs
Russia: Online Petition Seeks to Increase Controls on Foreign-Funded NGOs
Posted 2 April 2012 9:34 GMT
Written by: Kevin Rothrock
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/04/02/russia-online-petition-seeks-to-increase-controls-on-foreign-funded-ngos/
Back in early February 2012, Vladimir Putin published the fourth op-ed of his presidential campaign: a lengthy treatise titled “Democracy and the Quality of Government” [ru]. About 1,500 words deep into that article, Putin proposed that the Russian parliament should automatically consider the legislative applications of any online petition successful in gathering more than one-hundred thousand signatures.
A few weeks later, Putin published the final installment of his platform, titled “Russia and the Changing World” [ru], where he wrote the following:
The distinction should be clear between free speech and normal political activity, on the one hand, and illegal instruments of 'soft power,' on the other. […] [T]he activity of ‘pseudo-NGOs' and other structures operating on external support, pursuing the destabilization of one or another country, is unacceptable. […] We believe that influence on domestic politics and the public mood in other countries should be conducted only in the open — allowing actors to take full responsibility for their actions.
A few weeks later, Putin published the final installment of his platform, titled “Russia and the Changing World” [ru], where he wrote the following:
The distinction should be clear between free speech and normal political activity, on the one hand, and illegal instruments of 'soft power,' on the other. […] [T]he activity of ‘pseudo-NGOs' and other structures operating on external support, pursuing the destabilization of one or another country, is unacceptable. […] We believe that influence on domestic politics and the public mood in other countries should be conducted only in the open — allowing actors to take full responsibility for their actions.
In late March, less than three weeks after Putin's re-election to the Russian presidency, an online petition emerged, calling for stricter controls on foreign-funded Russian NGOs. Hosted at www.podkontrol.ru [ru], the petition calls on the government to adopt “the Law on the Foreign Financing of NGOs,” and has collected over 20,000 signatures in a little over one week (with more still pouring in).
Endorsed by 13 “affiliate organizations,” the initiative enjoys the support of pro-regime political groups like the Anti-Orange Committee, Dmitri Rogozin's ‘Congress of Russian Communities,' and Alexander Dugin's ‘International Eurasian Movement.'