russia protest 2011 Alexander Aleshkin/Epsilon/Getty Images

Russia’s Nonprofit Spies

Nothing riles up Western observers of Russia today as much as its law on foreign agents, which requires non-commercial organizations engaged in undefined “political activities” to register as “carrying functions of a foreign agent.” So what accounts for Russians' suspicion of organizations with external ties?

LONDON – Nothing so riles Western opinion about Russia today as its law on foreign agents. Enacted in July 2012, the law requires all non-commercial organizations (NCOs) engaged in (undefined) “political activities” to register with the Ministry of Justice as “carrying functions of a foreign agent.” A follow-up measure in 2015, the Undesirable Organizations law, required any such NCO to identify itself publicly as a “foreign agent.”

https://prosyn.org/mtbpgA7