Russia’s Justice Ministry added the Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF) headed by opposition leader Alexei Navalny to the register of non-profit organizations which are considered as ‘foreign agents’.
“The fact of the organization’s affiliation with those performing the functions of a foreign agent was established in the course of monitoring its activities conducted by the ministry’s Main Department in Moscow,” the statement reads.
According to Navalny, the donation-driven ACF has never got money from abroad.
“Putin is in great fear of the ACF, because he rests on the power of thieves, bribetakers and corrupt officials. And we expose corruption cases. And whatever is going on, we will not stop doing this,” he said on Twitter.
Russia adopted the law on foreign agents in 2012. In accordance with it, if an organization engaged in political activities receive any foreign funding, it may be considered as a foreign agent. In this case, the authorities are to exercise tighter control over such NGO.
In early August, Russia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case over laundering a billion Russian rubles (about $ 15.4 mln). According to the investigators, in 2016-2018, a number of persons ‘relating to the activities of the NGO Anti-Corruption Foundation, including its employees’, received money from third parties. They blocked the accounts of the foundation, as well as over 100 accounts belonging to individuals and entities.
The ACF has been at the forefront of the protests against barring independent candidates from running for seats in the Moscow City Duma. Moreover, Navalny’s led foundation is widely known for investigating into corrupting cases and publishing information about pro-Putin officials’ being involved in shady businesses and affairs. For example, the team said that Natalia Sergunina, First Deputy Mayor of Moscow, was linked to multimillion-dollar property. The sum in question is 6.5 bn Russian rubles (more than $102 mln).
