The Russian Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation announced on Friday that it has withdrawn the registration of 15 representations of international organizations and foreign NGOs, including those of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The groups “were expelled after they were found to be in violation of current Russian Federation law,” the ministry said in a statement.
In response to the eviction, Amnesty International said Moscow is “basically closing it”. The Russian media regulator previously blocked access to Amnesty International’s Russian-language website on March 11.
“The closure of Amnesty in Russia is just the latest in a long list of organizations that have been punished for defending human rights and speaking the truth to Russian authorities,” said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s secretary general.
“In a country where dozens of activists and dissidents have been imprisoned, murdered or exiled, independent media outlets have been smeared, blocked or forced into self-censorship, and civil society organizations have been banned or liquidated, if the Kremlin tries to silence you, do something right. to lay,” she continued.
The announcement by the Russian ministry, which did not specify details of the violations, comes as several NGOs accuse Russia of committing crimes under international law.
The independent human rights organization Human Rights Watch said last weekend it has documented a number of allegations of war crimes committed by Russian forces in occupied areas of Ukraine, including “a case of repeated rape; two summary executions, one of six men, the other of a man; and other cases of unlawful violence and threats against civilians between February 27 and March 14, 2022.”
“The authorities are wrong in thinking that by closing our office in Moscow they will stop our work to document and expose human rights violations,” Callamard said. “We will continue to work fearlessly to ensure that the people of Russia can enjoy their human rights without discrimination. We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia’s gross human rights violations at home and abroad.”
