INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Russia said Friday it was shutting down the local offices of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International that have been working in the
country for the past 30 years.The announcement came on the 44th day of Russia's military campaign in pro-Western Ukraine, with thousands
killed and more than 11 million having fled their homes or the country in the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II.Human Rights
Watch has been operating in Russia for 30 years, while Amnesty has had a presence in the country since 1993.All in all, 15 organizations
have been taken off Russia's registry of international organizations and foreign NGOs due to "violations of the current legislation of the
Russian Federation," the Justice Ministry said in a statement without providing further details.Russia also shut down the local offices of
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Aga Khan
Foundation, the Wspolnota Polska Association and other organizations.Rachel Denber, deputy director of the Europe and Central Asia division
at Human Rights Watch, said there was little doubt the move was in response to the organization's reporting on Russia's offensive in
Ukraine."The Russian government had already made it abundantly clear that it has no use for any facts, regarding the protection of civilians
This is just one small further proof of that," Denber said in a statement to AFP.Denber, who previously directed the watchdog's Moscow
office, said Human Rights Watch would continue to work on Russia."HRW has been working on Russia since the Soviet era, when it was a closed
totalitarian state," she added
General of Amnesty International, said her organization would also continue to support Russians."We will redouble our efforts to expose
Russia's egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad," she said in a statement."In a country where scores of activists and
dissidents have been imprisoned, killed or exiled, where independent media has been smeared, blocked or forced to self-censor, and where
civil society organizations have been outlawed or liquidated, you must be doing something right if the Kremlin tries to shut you up."Over
the past year Russian authorities have been presiding over an unprecedented crackdown on dissent and independent journalism that has
included dubbing non-governmental organizations and media outlets as "foreign agents."The label is reminiscent of the Soviet-era term "enemy
of the people" and is meant to apply to people or groups that receive funding from abroad and are politically active.'Foreign agent
out against Russia's military campaign in Ukraine and left the country in protest."The first foreign agent rapper," he said on Instagram
"Thanks for the best birthday gift," said the singer who turned 25 on Friday.In a watershed moment in Russia's post-Soviet history, late
Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, it chronicled Stalin-era purges and also campaigned for the rights of political prisoners and other
survived a poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-designed nerve agent, he blames on the Kremlin.Last month a Russian court found him
guilty of new charges of embezzlement and contempt of court and extended his sentence to nine years in a higher security prison as Moscow
seeks to wipe out remaining pockets of dissent.
