Russia's rules for NGOs similar to other nations'

Re: Russia's non-revolution, Dec. 27.

Thank you for your interest in the development of democratic institutes in the Russian Federation. We believe mature democracy and civil society are cornerstones of the further development of our country, and for years Russia-Canada co-operation has been focused on the reforming of the state and NGO sectors.

Your editorial on the strengthening of the legislative foundation of the activities of the NGOs in Russia missed an important element of discussion, namely, comparative analysis. For this, let me quote the spokesman of the Russian ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Mikhail Kamynin:

"The adoption of the law was preceded by major finalization of the draft, and the comments from the President of the Russian Federation, Russian and foreign NGOs, and the representatives of foreign states were considered. At the initial stage the bill underwent an expert examination in the Council of Europe. Many comments were reflected in the renewed version of the document, which does not contradict the guiding principles adopted in the Council of Europe governing the status of NGOs and is similar to the legislation of leading foreign states. So the individual fears being expressed, as if by inertia, over the 'excessiveness' of state control over the activities of foreign NGOs are unwarranted."

The mechanism of control laid down by Russian law is no stricter than, for example, the one established by United States legislation on the activities of NGOs operated by foreign agents. In particular, the mechanism for registering foreign NGOs established in the Russian law does not exceed in complexity the relevant provisions of the U.S. law on the registration of foreign agents. The grounds for denying registration or for terminating the activities of NGOs are formulated in much the same way as the provisions of the legislation regulating the activities of NGOs in many other nations in the world.

It should be noted that the appropriate norms abroad give sufficient room for interpretation by the state authorities vested with control powers over NGOs. And this is considered normal.

Alexey Lisenkov, Ottawa, Press attache, Embassy of the Russian Federation

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