Russia Outlaws Amnesty International

Russian authorities outlawed Amnesty International on Monday as an "undesirable organization," a label that under a 2015 law makes involvement with such organizations a criminal offense. The decision by the Russian Prosecutor General's office, announced in an online statement, is the latest in the unrelenting crackdown on Kremlin critics, journalists, and activists that intensified to unprecedented levels after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the AP reports.

• The designation means the international human rights group must stop any work in Russia, and it subjects those who cooperate with it or support it to prosecution, including if anyone shares Amnesty International's reports on social media.
• Amnesty International's recent statements on Russia included decrying a prison sentence handed to prominent election monitoring activist Grigory Melkonyants as a "brazen and politically motivated clampdown on peaceful activism."

• Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International's secretary general, said the move was part of the Russian government's efforts to silence dissent and isolate civil society. "The authorities are deeply mistaken if they believe that by labeling our organization 'undesirable,' we will stop our work documenting and exposing human rights violations – quite the opposite," she said in a statement. "We will not give in to the threats and will continue undeterred to work to ensure that people in Russia are able to enjoy their human rights without discrimination."
• Callamard said Amnesty International "will continue to work relentlessly to ensure that all those who are responsible for committing grave human rights violations, whether in Russia, Ukraine, or elsewhere, face justice."
• Russia's list of "undesirable organizations" currently covers 223 entities. Among those are prominent news organizations like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Russian independent outlet Meduza, think tanks like Chatham House, anti-corruption group Transparency International, and Open Russia, an opposition group founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, an exiled tycoon who became an opposition figure.

(More Amnesty International stories.)