* The event is organised by the EU-Russia Civil Society Forum and the Center for EU Enlargement Studies*

Kremlins’ efforts to limit the activities of local non-governmental organisations independent from the state that in Russia and to discredit them in the eyes of the society is not something new. Although there were times during the post-Soviet period when the third sector in Russia did indeed develop, the perspective is now bleak, especially in the context of the 2011-2012 protests. The Russian government is using different methods aiming to suppress civil society activities perceived as threatening. Several legal acts were passed during recent years, intended to prosecute and forbid those organizations that are stigmatised as „foreign agents” or „undesired” organisations. Moreover, there are attempts to influence public opinion regarding the mission of certain NGOs. In parallel with this phenomenon, the system of state grant distribution has also become strictly selective. The event is bringing together prominent representatives of Russian NGOs to discuss how aforementioned restrictions affected their daily jobs, what room for manouver is left and what strategies can be adopted in order to survive.

Welcoming remarks by Péter Balázs, Director of CENS

Speakers:

Mikhail Fedotov, Head of the Presidential Council on Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Russia

Svetlana Makovetskaya, Director, GRANI Centre, Perm, Russia

Ruslan Mutsolgov, Human Rights Watch „MASR”, Nazran, Republic of Ingushetia, Russia

Dmitriy Shevtsenko, Environmental Watch on North Caucasus, Krasnodar, Russia

Lilia Shibanova, Director, GOLOS Association

Moderated by Miklós Haraszti, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Belarus and CENS Director of Research on Human Rights

Language: English and Russian. English language translation would be provided.
RSVP at kissa@ceu.edu