Russia orders election watchdog close ahead of vote

Russia ordered independent election watchdog Golos be closed down on Wednesday for breaking a controversial NGO law, less than two months before a national vote.

A Moscow court backed a request by Russia’s justice ministry, which said Golos was not in compliance with the law and the NGO has been engaged in political activities, Interfax reported.

“We will obviously appeal this decision,” Golos’ lawyer Maxime Kroupski told the Russian news agency, saying the dissolution order was illegal.

“The ministry discovered these violations in September 2015 and ordered us to remedy them before November 20,” he said. “Therefore, the law has not been broken.”

In April, the watchdog said it had been fined 1.2 million rubles ($18,300, 16,500 euros) for violating controversial legislation forcing certain NGOs to advertise themselves as “foreign agents”.

The penalty is believed to be the largest ever imposed on a Russian organisation for violating the notorious law and comes ahead of parliamentary polls in September.

NGOs say the legislation, which requires organisations that receive overseas funding and engage in political activity to register as “foreign agents,” undermines them and aims to crack down on civil society.

Many have not complied and Golos, which monitored local and national elections with the backing of Western money, ceased its operations in 2013.

Its leaders set up another association with a similar name to continue to defend voters’ rights, but without any foreign funds.

Golos has exposed numerous violations in the past, including the 2011 election won by the ruling party and the presidential vote the following year that saw Vladimir Putin return to the Kremlin.

September’s legislative elections come against a backdrop of economic crisis in Russia.