Levada Center ordered to pay fine for failing to register as a foreign agent
Moscow’s Tverskoy Court has ordered that the Levada Center pay a fine of 300,000 rubles ($4,800) for failing to register as a foreign agent, Interfax reported.
In September, the non-governmental research organization was officially included on the list of non-profit organizations (NGOs) that perform the functions of a foreign agent on Russian territory.
The Center has repeatedly denied that it is associated with foreign governments.
The Tverskoy Court determined on Wednesday that the Levada Center had violated the law by not registering itself as a foreign agent.
The director of the NGO, Lev Gudkov, has said that the organization may cease its operations if it is unable to successfully appeal the decision.
In 2012, the Russian State Duma adopted a law requiring all non-governmental organizations engaged in political activity that receive funding from abroad to register as “foreign agents” with the Ministry of Justice, a designation that severely hinders an NGO's ability to operate in the Russian Federation.
According to the Russian Justice Ministry’s definition, political activity includes "observing elections, referendums… sociological research… [as well as] public appeals to state agencies, local governments, their officials, and other actions affecting their activities, including those aimed at the adoption, amendment, or repeal of laws or other legal acts… [as well as] the spread of assessments, including those through the use of modern information technologies, of decisions undertaken by state bodies and their policies.”
The law has received widespread commendation from abroad, as critics view the bill as a blatant obstruction of the promotion of fundamental human rights in Russia.
Supporters of the bill and the Russian media view the legislation as an important measure to remove “detrimental” foreign influence from the country’s political system and to eradicate elements that are “alien to Russian ideology”.