7 April 2014

Source: HRO.org (info)

• Moscow city & Moscow region Right of association Harassment of activists

"Russia will not allow NGOs to be used on its territory for destructive purposes, as has happened in Ukraine," Russian president Putin told a meeting of the leadership of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

The TV channel Zvezda has cited an extract from the speech Putin made to the security services:

"...Current legislation in Russia creates all the conditions for the transparent, free activity of non-governmental organizations. But we shall never allow these organizations to be used for destructive purposes. What has happened in Ukraine, when in large measure it was via non-governmental organizations that funding was channelled from abroad to nationalist and neo-Nazi structures and militants who became the main force behind the anti-constitutional, state coup d’état.”