The Anti-War Committee of Russia declared an “undesirable organization”

The Prosecutor General’s Office assigned the Anti-War Committee of Russia the status of a so-called undesirable organization. His activities in Russia will be prohibited, and cooperation with him will be subject to administrative and criminal liability.

Together with the committee itself, the Prosecutor General’s Office included in the list of “undesirable” two NGOs affiliated with it in European countries: the French Russie-Libertes and the Spanish La Asociasion de Rusos Libres.

The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation into the activities of the Anti-War Committee at the request of one of the deputies of the State Duma.

The Anti-War Committee of Russia is a public organization founded by a group of Russian public figures and civil activists on February 27, 2022, after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine. The organization’s manifesto states that its goals are to stop the war and oppose Vladimir Putin’s regime, which the organization considers dictatorial. Among the members of the committee are such oppositionists as Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Garry Kasparov, Dmitry Gudkov and others.

• The Law on Undesirable Organizations has been in effect in Russia since 2015. The work of structures that the authorities enter into the relevant register is prohibited in the country. Participation in the activities of an undesirable organization is punishable by a fine of up to 500,000 rubles, and in the case of a repeated episode – up to four years of imprisonment. At the same time, the wording of what exactly can be considered participation is vague in the law.