According to a statement made by a group of human rights activists, the financial blockade mounted against the Open Russia Fund is aimed at the complete ‘closing down’ of civil society.

“We were deeply concerned and extremely worried to hear about the freezing of Open Russia’s accounts and the termination, therefore, of its operations. This aggressive and bare-faced action on the part of the authorities is evidence of the fact that a war is now being waged against civil society and that the Kremlin’s aim is the further ‘closing down’ of the country. The Open Russia Fund is a charitable organization, whose name exactly matches the quality of its broad-front and multi-faceted activities.

“We would like to express our solidarity with Open Russia’s staff, who had been doing their utmost to turn our country into an open and free society and to help transform its citizens into educated people dedicated to democratic values. There is no higher or more sincere form of patriotism, although - and there’s little need to add this - it’s one seen as unforgivable in some quarters. We would also like to express our gratitude to the Fund itself for all its great efforts in support of civil society and for its development of social and educational programmes. This blow to the charitable organization founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a clear sign that the authorities are deliberately blocking any opportunity that Russian NGOs have hitherto had to get support that’s independent from both government sources and Western funds. Major national businesses have been threatened, and foreign funds have been given clearly to understand that supporting active human-rights organizations is a gesture unfriendly towards the Kremlin.

“We now call on all nonprofit organizations (NGOs) to come together in mutual support.”

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, chairperson of the Moscow office of the Helsinki Group; Elena Bonner, human-rights activist; Yury Brovchenko, The Glasnost Fund; Svetlana Gannushkina, The Civil Support Committee; Lev Ponomarev, the Movement for Human Rights; Arseny Roginsky, Memorial; Yury Samodurov, director of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Public Centre; Ernst Cherny, secretary of the Public Committee in Support of Scientists; Alexey Yablokov, Centre for Russian Environmental Policy; Father Gleb Yakunin, Committee for the Defence of Freedom of Conscience; Viktor Kurenkov, Tula Human Rights Centre; Yury Vdovin, Civic Control (St. Petersburg); Sergey Valkov (Ivanovo).

(Movement for Human Rights Website, March 22, 2006)