The Russian environmental group Movement 42, based in Russias Arctic Arkhangelsk region, announced that it was stopping its activities on Wednesday simply one month after being designated a foreign representative by the Russian authorities.
We spoke with lawyers and recognized that its a big threat for us to continue to exist as an association , the group stated in a Telegram statement.Movement 42 was founded in 2018 following the closure of its predecessor, Athos, an ecological group that worked in the region for 17 years prior to being required to cease its activities in similar circumstances.In the case of Athos, the authorities were obviously inspired to identify the organization a foreign agent due to its work with the Norwegian environmental organization Natur og Undom.Since its development practically 5 years ago, Movement 42 had actually consistently encountered efforts to challenge the association itself and its members, the group said, culminating in its addition on the list of companies deemed to be foreign representatives by the Kremlin on Dec.
9.
The company openly specified their difference with the decision at the time, saying that they could be implicated of nothing more than being representatives of nature.
The group said that their inclusion on the register was most likely connected to their calls on locals in the Arkhangelsk area to participate in public conversations about the proposed building of a big waste arranging complex in the region.The closure of Movement 42 is the 2nd serious loss for Russias ecological motion in the past month.
In December Sakhalin Environment Watch (SEW), a veteran ecological watchdog in the Russian Far East, revealed its closure after being labeled a foreign agent itself.
The law on foreign representatives came into force in Russia in 2012 and initially targeted companies that received funding from abroad.
The legislation has undergone several changes since then, most just recently in December, when brand-new rules were introduced permitting the authorities to appoint the foreign agent label to any group or specific deemed to have actually fallen under foreign influence regardless of whether they receive moneying from outside Russia.