Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 12 – Newly
released figures show that only about ten percent of the roughly 200,000 non-governmental
organizations registered with the state are in fact actually functioning but also
that three percent of the total number get foreign funding (regnum.ru/news/society/2356192.html
and iq.hse.ru/news/212286708.html).
Combining those figures which were
compiled respectively by the Social Chamber and the Higher School of Economics and
which because of the vagaries of registration must be treated with caution suggests
that approximately 30 percent of the Russian NGOs that are actually in operation
are receiving support from abroad.
These numbers highlight not only the
weakness of Russian civil society in this regard but also and especially the
dangers inherent in Vladimir Putin’s ongoing campaign to label all groups
receiving funding from abroad “foreign agents,” an effort that because there are so many in this category further chills
public life in the Russian Federation.
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