Bureaucracy Forces Foreign Aid Groups to Stop Work in Russia

Scores of foreign humanitarian aid groups and charities which failed to meet a deadline for registration under a controversial new law must suspend their work in Russia from today.

Amnesty International, the New York-based Human Rights Watch and the Danish Refugee Council - one of the biggest organisations working in Chechnya - are among those obliged to cease their activities.

Many non-governmental organisations said their applications had been delayed by bureaucratic demands to produce endless notarised documents, including passport details.

"This is the latest move in the Kremlin campaign to limit independent institutions that press for government accountability," said Alison Gill, head of HRW's Moscow office. "It's going to affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of Russians."

The law obliges NGOs to provide a "work plan" for 2007 and furnish internal documents on request.

President Vladimir Putin claims NGOs are a hotbed for spies and the law is necessary to clamp down on groups used as a channel for funding terrorists. European Union leaders are planning to question the Russian leader over democratic freedoms when they meet him in Finland tomorrow.

Under the new legislation NGOs were obliged to submit an application to the federal registration service by yesterday.

By last night only 91 foreign organisations out of up to 500 working in Russia were approved. All organisations whose applications are still under review are obliged to suspend their work until they receive an answer, a process that can take as long as a month.

Tatyana Khabarova, a spokesman for OCHA, the UN body coordinating humanitarian work of NGOs in the North Caucasus, said four organisations would be halting work: the Danish Refugee Council, the International Rescue Committee, Help and the Hammer Forum.

An employee of another unapproved group said: "I have been told to stop signing contracts with immediate effect."

Ms Gill of Human Rights Watch said the requirement to provide internal documents on request was more pernicious than the bureaucratic delays over registration. She added: "It's outrageous. Will I be expected to hand over my personal notes on victim testimony?"