“Russian Action Committee” was recognized as an undesirable organization

The Ministry of Justice of Russia on Monday updated the register of so-called undesirable organizations. It included the anti-war “Russian Committee of Action” and the “Academic Network of Eastern Europe”, which helped scientists. Now their activities will be banned in Russia, and cooperation with them may be punishable by up to six years in prison.

“Russian Action Committee” is an anti-war union of politicians and public figures who condemned Russia’s war in Ukraine. It was created in May 2022, among its founders are Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov, Dmitry Gudkov, Yulia Latynina and others. The committee’s manifesto states that its goal is military resistance and resistance to the regime of Vladimir Putin.

“Academic Network of Eastern Europe” is a project launched in 2020 after political protests in Belarus. It helps scientists, students and graduate students who are under the threat of political persecution to find new places for research. Thanks to the project, scientists from “risk zones” receive internships, scholarships and employment in universities and scientific institutions of safe countries. Initially, the project helped Belarusian scientists. After the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, he also began to accept applications from scientists from Ukraine and Russia.

• More than a hundred organizations have already been declared undesirable in Russia, among them are NGOs, human rights and investigative centers, mass media, including Russian ones such as “Meduza” and “Dozhd”, religious and opposition associations. In particular, opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza is serving a long prison term on charges of participation in the activities of an undesirable organization.