Incident: Suspensions, Russia

Seventy-seven foreign NGOs, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, were forced to suspend activities Thursday after a registration deadline expired. Although Russian government officials have insisted the suspensions are temporary and work will resume once official paperwork has been submitted, a number of NGOs feel the suspensions are heavy-handed and the latest in a series of attempts by the government to exert greater control over humanitarian organizations. (I've yet to see a complete list of all of the organizations, but will post a link when one shows up. In the meantime, if you speak Russian, here's a link to the Justice Ministry, who made the announcement.)