Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed up the proposal of Russian Human Rights Ombudsman Ella Panfilova to work out the procedure of excluding non-profit organizations from the register of foreign agents after they stop receiving foreign subsidies.
Until recently, the Russian Justice Ministry has had no chance to exclude a non-profit organization which is no longer financed from abroad from a registry of foreign agents because there are no officially established withdrawal schemes, Panfilova said at a meeting with Putin.
“The existing system makes it impossible to withdraw from this registry. For example, the Justice Ministry cannot exclude an organization that has stopped being funded from abroad and has switched over to human rights activities from the registry of foreign agents because there are no withdrawal procedures,” Panfilova said.
Both, human rights activists and the Justice Ministry, will consider Panfilova’s proposals.
“I am asking you to support this proposal,” Panfilova told Putin.
“Yes. Of course, I fully agree with you,” Putin stressed, adding that the aforesaid non-profit organizations could challenge decisions in court.