An activist holds a poster outside Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, in Moscow, on 6 July 2012, during an authorized protest against a proposed new bill forcing internationally-funded non-governmental organisations (NGO) to register as "foreign agents". The poster reads: "The NGO bill will lead to lead to a Fascist State!" (Photo: AFP - Natalia Kolesnikova)
On July 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a law partially regulating the relationship between NGOs and foreign funding. The law, known as “foreign agents law,” says that “anyone in Russia who receives funding from a foreign country with the aim of carrying out work which has political dimensions, even if it is humanitarian, developmental or social, has to register themselves with the official authorities as foreign agents.”
The law came as a bombshell to the Russian civil society sector, which receives significant material support from a number of Western countries – particularly the USA, which funds organizations working on human rights and democracy.
The organizations have threatened to boycott the law, denying that they are “agents” because they receive money from US government sources, some of which, like the US development agency, USAID, are directly controlled by the State Department.
Of course, the US State Department strongly criticized the law, accusing the Russian administration of exaggeration and intimidation with the aim of limiting freedom and democracy.
The law came as a bombshell to the Russian civil society sector, which receives significant material support from a number of Western countries – particularly the USA, which funds organizations working on human rights and democracy.
The organizations have threatened to boycott the law, denying that they are “agents” because they receive money from US government sources, some of which, like the US development agency, USAID, are directly controlled by the State Department.
Of course, the US State Department strongly criticized the law, accusing the Russian administration of exaggeration and intimidation with the aim of limiting freedom and democracy.
Uprooted Palestinian 
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