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#25 - JRL 2006-242 - JRL Home
Russia: Around 131 Foreign NGOs Re-Registered

MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - The Federal Registration Service said it disagrees with remarks by human rights activists criticizing the ongoing re-registration of the Russian offices of foreign non- governmental organizations (NGOs).

"A total of 131 representative offices of foreign NGOs had been granted re-registration and included in the roster by Friday morning. The documents submitted by another 57 offices are being examined," Galina Fokina, acting director of the service's department for political parties and the registration of public, religious and other organizations, told Interfax on Friday.

Three organizations have been denied re-registration, she said.

"The documents submitted by another 22 offices of foreign NGOs have been returned to these offices for fine-tuning," she added.

Foreign NGOs' offices are not rushing to submit applications for re-registration, Fokina said.

"What's all the fuss about? The organizations themselves have been quite slow to submit the documents. Our position is that there are several hundred representative offices of various foreign NGOs in Russia. For instance, representatives of only two organizations applied for re-registration yesterday," she said.

The new NGO law requires the offices of foreign organizations to submit applications for re-registration by October 18. Starting from October 19, the offices of NGOs whose re-registration has not been extended will not be able to carry out their programs, but they will be allowed to continue operating in Russia as legal entities.