US concerned over Russia’s NGO law: Rice

By Saul Hudson

KIEV (Reuters) – The United States is concerned about a
proposed Russian law restricting foreign funding of
pro-democracy bodies and charities, U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday.

“There is a law that has gone, I think, through a first
reading in the Duma (parliament) about which we do have
concerns, about which non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
have concerns, about which I believe some Russians have
concerns,” Rice said.

“The United States government has expressed these concerns
to the Russian Federation at all levels.”

“We would certainly hope that the importance of
non-governmental organizations to a stable democratic
environment would be understood by the Russian government.”

The draft law has troubled international rights groups and
Western governments at a sensitive time when Russia prepares to
take over for the first time the rotating presidency of the
Group of Eight industrialized nations in 2006.

The law would force NGOs from human rights groups to sports
clubs to re-register, subjecting them to tighter official
scrutiny. It would also make it more difficult for them to
receive foreign funding.

It also creates bureaucratic hurdles for foreign NGOs.
Groups including Amnesty International, Greenpeace and Human
Rights Watch said if it passes in its current form them may
have to close their Russian offices.

Rice’s remark, during a visit to Russia’s neighbor Ukraine,
was the strongest public criticism to date from a U.S.
official. U.S. President George W. Bush raised the issue at
talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin last month.

The draft law was passed on first reading last month. A
second reading was delayed after Putin asked for changes to
soften parts of the law.

But he has defended the thrust of the law, saying it is
needed to help Russia fight money laundering and terrorism.

Some of the law’s supporters in parliament say the law is
also necessary to prevent a repeat in Russia of the peaceful
revolutions that brought pro-Western reformers to power in
ex-Soviet Georgia and Ukraine.

Western governments who wanted to gain greater influence
closer to Russia’s borders were able to use NGOs in Georgia and
Ukraine to help fan public unrest, say some of the law’s
backers.