Russian President Vladimir Putin and his merry band of jackbooted autocrats want to rid their state of all foreign-funded organizations, especially human rights groups they believe are agitating for a Ukraine style "Orange Revolution." More from the SF Chron:

Russia's parliament, in what critics are calling the latest Kremlin clampdown on democracy, appeared ready to approve legislation today that would shut down foreign-funded human rights groups and tighten controls over domestic civic organizations. Some of the world's most prominent nongovernmental organizations could be affected, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Ford Foundation.

"If this law passes, we would essentially be closed down," said Diederik Lohman, a senior researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch, a frequent critic of Russia's human rights record. "This goes beyond anything else there is in the former Soviet Union." Amnesty International released a statement expressing "serious concern" over the draft law and calling it "a serious attack on freedom of association."

The legislation, endorsed by President Vladimir Putin's Cabinet and co-sponsored by the Kremlin-created United Russia party, which controls two thirds of the parliamentary seats, would bar international nongovernmental organizations from operating in Russia and would require all of the country's 300,000 domestic "NGOs," including local church organizations, to re-register with the state as Russian and prove that they do not receive foreign funding for political activities, a term critics say could be interpreted to cover a broad range of functions.

....opponents say the law is designed to curtail one of the few areas of public life still outside state dominance. Since becoming president, Putin, under the guise of what he has called managed democracy, has cemented Kremlin control over parliament, closed or taken over independent television channels, taken back much of the country's huge energy resources from private owners, abolished direct elections of regional governors and installed his own representatives to supervise regional governments.

"The provisions in this law are so elastic that its aim is clear: to forbid NGO activity and drive out anyone who is not in the Kremlin's circle of power," said Oleg Orlov, the chairman of Memorial, Russia's most prominent rights group.

Full parliamentary approval could come as soon as Dec. 9, but international pressure could sway Putin into a veto. Since the Soviet Union fell, Russia has become a great place for certain scheming hoodlums posing as entrepreneurs to make money, but has remained a lousy place to pursue your dreams, and speak your mind. No wonder the democratic revolutions in Ukraine and the former Soviet state of Georgia make Putin and his retrograde henchmen nervous.

TECHNORATI TAGS: RUSSIA, PUTIN, HUMAN RIGHTS

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Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 23, 2005 08:30 AM