US state secretary expresses concerned over NGO’s future in Russia

US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is concerned with the future of non-governmental organizations (NGO) and civil society in Russia, expressed his concerns to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a telephone conversation on Thursday.

According to the US State Department, Kerry is also concerned with Russia’s new bill that restricts the NGO’s activities in Russia.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that a ban on activities of a non-governmental organization, which becomes undesirable in Russia, does not automatically mean that democratic freedoms of the Russians are restricted.

"It would be absolutely wrong to say that Russian citizens are deprived of something if the activities of some organizations are banned," Peskov told journalists. Naturally, bans imposed one or several organizations will not mean that Russians will have restricted access to democratic /values/," the Kremlin spokesman said.
First undesirable NGO in Russia

Russia’s Justice Ministry included the US National Endowment for Democracy into the list of foreign and international non-governmental organizations whose activity is undesirable in Russia late in July.

The Fund has become the first undesirable international organization in Russia.

"Everything complies with our laws," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said commenting the decision to include the National Endowment for Democracy into the Russian Justice Ministry list of undesirable organizations...
  [tass.ru] 
 13/8/15