Conflicts
Russia declares SPD-affiliated foundation undesirable
The Russian Ministry of Justice has declared the Friedrich Ebert Foundation an undesirable organization. photo
© Britta Pedersen/dpa
The Moscow leadership is further isolating Russian society from foreign partners. The Friedrich Ebert Foundation is feeling this, but also a Berlin scientific institution.
The Russian Ministry of Justice has the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation declared an undesirable organization. According to an announcement in Moscow, the German Society for Eastern European Studies was also placed on the blacklist, which means a ban on activities in Russia.
Also affected are XZ gGmbh, founded by Russian exiled journalists in Germany, and the OWEN — Mobile Academy for Gender Democracy and Peace Promotion, as reported by the Tass agency. The Russian government stopped the political education work of the party-affiliated German foundations of the SPD, CDU, Greens and FDP in Russia shortly after the attack on Ukraine in 2022 and revoked the registration of their offices in Moscow. So far, only the Green Party-affiliated Heinrich Böll Foundation has been declared an undesirable organization.
Russian citizens risk persecution if they cooperate
According to a Russian law from 2015, the undesirable organizations have to stop their activities in Russia, accounts and possible property are blocked, and their representatives are closed, as the Center for Eastern European and International Studies (ZOiS) in Berlin explains. Russian citizens risk criminal prosecution if they contact these organizations. The Russian Ministry of Justice’s register currently includes almost 150 organizations from Germany, the USA and other countries. The pressure on Russian civil society and its foreign contacts has increased even more since the beginning of the war.
In addition to non-governmental organizations critical of the Kremlin, the branding as undesirable is also increasingly affecting scientific institutions. This includes the German Society for Eastern European Studies (DGO). It publishes the monthly magazine “Osteuropa” in Berlin as the leading German organ for politics and contemporary history in Eastern Europe.