Russia declares Human Rights Foundation an “undesirable” organisation

Russia’s prosecutor’s office has added the New York‑based Human Rights Foundation (HRF) to its “undesirable organisations” list. The designation, which carries criminal penalties for Russians who cooperate with or share the group’s material, was announced on the basis that HRF labelled Russia a “fully authoritarian regime” in its Tyranny Tracker project and was accused of discrediting the Russian armed forces, promoting anti‑Russian sanctions and supporting other undesirable groups.

HRF is chaired by Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The foundation’s chief legal and policy officer, Javier El‑Hage, said the move only confirmed the Kremlin’s view of the organisation’s work. Since 2015 Moscow has placed hundreds of NGOs, media outlets and even universities such as Yale and Stanford on the undesirable list.