Russia Plans New Law for Foreign-financed NGO’s

from The New York Times:

Foreign-Funded Nonprofits in Russia Face New Hurdle

In the latest move to rein in dissent, Russian authorities have introduced a draft law that would require nonprofit organizations that receive financing from outside Russia to publicly declare themselves “foreign agents” – a term that, to Russians, evokes cold war-era espionage and is likely to discredit the organizations’ work in the eyes of the public.

Lawmakers from United Russia, the governing party, have accelerated work on the bill and are scheduling the first of three readings on Friday.

… The bill would also put new burdens on nonprofit groups with foreign financing that are judged to be involved in politics, including annual audits and unannounced checks for the use of “extremist speech” in published materials. Organizations could face fines of as much as 1 million rubles, or $30,000, for violations.