<div dir="ltr"><div><div id="story-headers" class="">
<h1 id="headline" itemprop="headline" class="">
Can a Russian indigenous group be a 'foreign agent'? The Kremlin thinks so. </h1>
<div style="" id="share-tools-floating-left" class="">
<div style="" id="share-tools-floating-left-gigya-handle" class=""><div class=""><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style=""><br></td></tr><tr><td style=""><br></td></tr><tr><td style=""><br></td></tr><tr><td style=""><br></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div>
</div>
<h2 id="summary" class="" itemprop="description">
<p>The targeting of an organization dedicated to protecting indigenous
culture is just the latest abuse of a law meant to root out foreign
actors in Russian politics.</p> </h2>
<div class="" id="byline-wrapper">
<h3 id="byline" class="">
<span id="authors" class="">
<span class="">By</span>
<span class=""><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0322/Can-a-Russian-indigenous-group-be-a-foreign-agent-The-Kremlin-thinks-so#"><span class="" itemprop="author">Fred Weir</span>, Correspondent<span class="" title="author bio"></span></a></span>
</span>
March 22, 2016 </h3>
<div class="">
<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0322/Can-a-Russian-indigenous-group-be-a-foreign-agent-The-Kremlin-thinks-so#" class=""><span class=""></span><span class=""><br></span></a>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="main-art-hole">
<div class="">
<ul style=""><li>
<img src="http://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2016/03/971504_1_0322-oforeign_standard.jpg?alias=standard_600x400" alt="">
<div id="caption_bar-1" class="">
<div id="photo_credit-1" class="" itemprop="author"> <span class="">Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/AP/File</span></div> <div id="view_caption-1" class="">View Caption</div> </div>
</li></ul>
</div>
</div>
<p><span id="dateline" class="">
Moscow — </span>Barani, an organization dedicated to the interests of
the indigenous peoples of Russia's far east, couldn't be much more
inherently Russian.</p><p>The group, whose full name is the "Foundation
for the Development of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia, and Far
East," is like many indigenous, preservationist groups all around the
world. It lobbies for the protection of traditional native hunting and
fishing grounds. It sponsors seminars and cultural festivals. Recently,
it even printed a compilation of indigenous peoples' fairy tales.</p><p>So it was a shock last week when Pavel Sulyandziga, founder and chairman of the group, logged onto the <a href="http://unro.minjust.ru/NKOForeignAgent.aspx" target="_blank">Ministry of Justice's website</a> and discovered that his organization had been officially blacklisted as a "foreign agent."</p><div class=""><div class="">
<span class="">Recommended:</span><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0202/Sochi-Soviets-and-czars-How-much-do-you-know-about-Russia/Territory"><span class="">
Sochi, Soviets, and czars: How much do you know about Russia?
</span></a>
</div></div><p>Though he still doesn't know why, his group is the latest target of a <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2012/1126/Russian-NGOs-say-new-law-makes-them-look-like-spies-video" target="_blank">four-year-old law</a>
that requires any nongovernmental organization that receives any
foreign funding and engages in anything authorities deem to be political
activity to register themselves as "foreign agents," a term that
connotes "spy" in Russian.</p><div id="story-embed-column" class=""><div id="story-inset-0" class=""><div class="">
<div class=""><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0202/Sochi-Soviets-and-czars-How-much-do-you-know-about-Russia"><img src="http://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2014/01/0110-Russiaquiz-head%20image.jpg?alias=standard_218x145" alt=""></a></div>
<div class="">
<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/csmlists/quizzes"><span class="">Test your knowledge</span></a><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2012/0202/Sochi-Soviets-and-czars-How-much-do-you-know-about-Russia/Territory"><span class="">
Sochi, Soviets, and czars: How much do you know about Russia?
</span></a>
</div>
</div></div>
<div id="story-inset-1" class=""><div class="">
<div class=""><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2016/Photos-of-the-day-03-21"><img src="http://images.csmonitor.com/csm/2016/03/971470_4_05_cropped.jpg?alias=standard_218x145" alt=""></a></div>
<div class="">
<a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day"><span class="">Photos of the Day</span></a><a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2016/Photos-of-the-day-03-21"><span class="">
Photos of the day 03/21
</span></a>
</div>
</div></div></div><p>Some experts warn the law has become a
cudgel for bureaucrats, often far from Moscow, to silence any criticism
at all from civil society. Originally intended to curb big,
foreign-funded NGOs such as <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/0827/Can-Russia-s-only-independent-election-monitor-survive-Kremlin-pressure" target="_blank">election monitors</a>, <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/1021/Inside-the-Kremlin-s-velvet-grip-Russia-s-civil-society-struggles-to-survive" target="_blank">human-rights groups</a>, and other <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2016/0125/How-a-liberal-bastion-is-persevering-in-an-increasingly-illiberal-Moscow" target="_blank">bastions of liberal opposition</a>
that challenge the government in politically sensitive areas, the
banned list now includes more than 100 names, many of them with an <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2013/0610/Russia-s-growing-NGO-crackdown-turns-to-environmental-cultural-groups" target="_blank">educational, cultural, or environmental focus</a>.</p><p>"It
seems that if you do anything related to human-rights protection, you
will be targeted by this law," says Mr. Sulyandziga. "The goal is to
eliminate any organization that irritates local authorities. Sometimes
it's just score-settling that has nothing to do with politics. I think
this could be against me, personally, because I complained publicly
about the conduct of some local officials, and someone wrote a letter to
the Justice Ministry denouncing me as a spy."</p><a name="eztoc21257960_3" id="eztoc21257960_3"></a><h2>Tarring 'foreign agents'</h2><p>While
Barani did have a Dutch citizen among its original founders,
Sulyandziga insists that it receives no foreign funding. He doesn't deny
that it sometimes generates friction with local authorities, especially
over issues like land access rights. But it also has worked closely
with government and industry.</p><p>Barani receives much of its funding from <a href="http://russkiymir.ru/en/" target="_blank">Russkiy Mir</a>,
an international foundation to promote Russian culture established and
financed by the Russian government. Another major donor has been the <a href="http://www.sakhalinenergy.com/en/index.wbp" target="_blank">Sakhalin Energy Investment Company</a>,
a far-eastern gas company that's registered in Bermuda but is 50
percent owned by Gazprom, the Russian state gas monopoly. Royal Dutch
Shell and two Japanese companies own minority stakes in Sakhalin.</p><p>The
Ministry of Justice lists three instances of Barani receiving foreign
funding, all of them donations from Sakhalin Energy. As for the group's
alleged political activities, the ministry website simply alleges
"attempts to influence decision-making by public authorities, aimed at
changing their policies."</p><p>That highlights the vagueness of the
law, experts say, which enables authorities vast leeway in tarring
groups with the "foreign agent" brush.</p><a name="eztoc21257960_4" id="eztoc21257960_4"></a><h2>Tainted pennies</h2><p>Under <a href="http://www.fara.gov/" target="_blank">analogous US legislation</a>
often cited to justify the Russian law, the definition of "foreign
funding" requires a "principal" donor that is usually a foreign
government or corporation. But under the Russian law, if a group
receives even a penny from abroad – even if it's given by a Russian
citizen – that qualifies it for prosecution.</p><p>"The funding source
can be a foreign state, a foreign citizen, foreign organization, or
Russian organization that receives money from foreign sources," says
Darya Miloslavskaya, a civil rights lawyer.</p><p>Last year, leading scientific charity Dynasty <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2015/0528/For-fear-of-foreign-agents-Kremlin-blacklists-a-Russian-charity-video" target="_blank">was closed down</a>
on the grounds that its chief donor, Russian telecommunications tycoon
Dmitry Zimin, was providing the funds from his foreign bank accounts.</p><p>Experts
say that groups like Barani were once lionized by the Russian
government, and used to showcase official cooperation with indigenous
people in issues like ecology and business-community integration. But
now the atmosphere is growing tougher as parliamentary elections loom
and the economic crisis bites.</p>"State policy used to require
participation of indigenous groups in forming civil policy," says Pavel
Chikov, head of Agora, a lawyer's collective that provides legal
assistance to other NGOs. Agora itself became the first NGO to be
officially liquidated under the law <a href="http://www.lawyerherald.com/articles/35059/20160223/russian-court-liquidates-human-rights-group-heated-crackdown.htm" target="_blank">earlier this year</a>.
"But traditional lobbyists for indigenous peoples' rights are now being
squeezed out of the public sphere. It's true that they were trying to
influence policy for quite a long time, and their efforts were once
welcomed. But not anymore."<br><br></div>Forwarded from the Christian Science Monitor, 3/22/16<br clear="all"><div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
</div></div>