Russia’s Nationalities Agency Calls for New Law to Tighten Government Control over National-Cultural Organizations

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Dec. 10 – Russia’s Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs has proposed a new law that would establish tighter government control over national cultural organizations to ensure that such groups will work closely with the government to promote the development of a common non-ethnic Russian nation.
    At present, the agency says, there are between 3,000 to 18,000 of such groups, a lack of precision that highlights the fact that these groups have largely developed independently of the state  (nazaccent.ru/content/43252-v-fadn-predlagayut-izmenit-status-nacionalno-kulturnyh-organizacij/ and vedomosti.ru/society/articles/2024/12/10/1080358-v-zakone-ob-nko-mozhet-poyavitsya-kategoriya-natsionalno-kulturnih-organizatsiii).
    If the proposed law is adopted, Moscow will exercise tighter control over the activities of these groups, fund some of them to promote desired ends, and prevent the citizens of foreign countries from playing a major role in them. The measure is likely to pass, thus reducing the opportunities for ethnic communities to advance their interests independently of the state.