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SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation: On Moscow's black list

Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa

The Russian state continues to take action against civil society organizations.

Now the Russian Ministry of Justice has declared the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation an “undesirable organization,” which effectively means a ban on its activities in Russia.

According to an announcement on Monday, the German Society for Eastern European Studies was also placed on the blacklist.

The Russian government stopped the political education work of the party-affiliated German foundations of the SPD, CDU, Greens and FDP in Russia shortly after the attack on Ukraine in 2022 and revoked the registration of their offices in Moscow.

So far, only the Green Party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation has been declared an “undesirable organization.”

Register includes almost 150 foreign organizations

According to a Russian law from 2015, "undesirable organizations" must cease their activities in Russia, accounts and possible property will be blocked, and their representative offices will be closed, as the Center for Eastern European and International Studies (ZOiS) explains.

Russian citizens risk criminal prosecution if they contact these organizations.

The Russian Ministry of Justice's register currently includes almost 150 organizations from Germany, the USA and other countries.

The pressure on Russian civil society and its foreign contacts has increased even more since the beginning of the war.

In addition to non-governmental organizations critical of the Kremlin, the branding as undesirable is also increasingly affecting scientific institutions.

This includes the German Society for Eastern European Studies (DGO).

It publishes the monthly magazine “Osteuropa” in Berlin as the leading German organ for politics and contemporary history in Eastern Europe.

Also affected by the current step are XZ gGmbh, founded by Russian exiled journalists in Germany, and the OWEN – Mobile Academy for Gender Democracy and Peace Promotion, as reported by the Tass agency.

aeh/dpa