Raids in Russia Target ‘Foreign Agents’

LONDON - It has been a nerve-jangling week for civil society groups in Russia as they awaited a knock on the door by state officials on the hunt for “foreign agents.”

Amid concerns among international advocacy organizations about what has been described as the worst crackdown on Russian democracy since the collapse of the Soviet Union, authorities have raided scores of offices of rights groups, foreign cultural bodies and other nongovernmental organizations.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Transparency International, the corruption watchdog, were among those targeted, as well as Memorial, Russia’s oldest human rights organization.

The Russian Justice Ministry said the checks by judicial and tax officials were to investigate if the real activities of these organizations matched the declared ones.

Responding to Western criticism that the raids amounted to harassment and intimidation, President Vladimir V. Putin described them on Thursday as “legal and routine.”

The raids follow adoption last year of a law requiring NGOs that receive foreign funding to declare themselves foreign agents, a term that, to Russians, evokes Cold War-era espionage.

The day before the law came into force in November, unidentified people painted the words “Foreign Agent. Love U.S.A.” on the wall of Memorial’s Moscow offices.

Although non-compliance carries large fines, possible jail terms, and potential closure, no organization has so far registered.

The law remained on the statute book for several months while the Justice Ministry argued that it was unenforceable. But, in February, Mr. Putin told officers of the F.S.B. intelligence service that it must be executed.

“Any direct or indirect interference in our internal affairs” was unacceptable, he said.

Reacting to the wave of raids that began on March 21, High Williamson, Human Rights Watch’s Europe director, said the scale of the operations was “unprecedented and only serves to reinforce the menacing atmosphere for civil society.”

“The Russian authorities should end, rather than intensify, the crackdown that’s been under way for the past year,” he said.

The U.S. State Department expressed deep concern at what looked like a witch hunt, while German and French officials warned that the inspections could damage their countries’ relations with Moscow.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s policy chief, said this week, “The ongoing raids, taken together with the recent package of legislation that curtails the civil freedoms of the Russian population … constitute a trend that is deeply troubling.”

The Economist this week reported a broader fear among civil society groups that other newly passed laws will be reanimated. These include a treason law that targets anyone who offers information or assistance to a foreign state or international group.

Sean Roberts, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, wrote last month that the N.G.O law was part of a wider strategy to prevent the resurgence of a protest movement against Mr. Putin’s rule.

However, he suggested the Russian leader’s hardline tactics were potentially undermining his efforts to isolate the opposition and maintain a national consensus.

“The Putin administration’s tough line has altered the regime’s delicate balance,” he wrote, “marginalizing the sizeable liberal-leaning elite who view Russia’s prosperity and security tied to political modernization.”