The Russian government has intensified enforcement of the country’s repressive legislation on foreign “undesirable” organizations to intimidate Russian nationals and groups, Human Rights Watch said today. Officials are penalizing Russian groups for hyperlinks on their websites to materials on the websites of “undesirable” foreign organizations. The law on “undesirable organizations,” adopted in 2015, authorizes the prosecutor general’s office to ban from the country any foreign or international organization that it perceives as harming Russia’s security, and sets out penalties for Russian citizens and organizations for unspecified involvement with them. Punishments range from administrative fines to imprisonment. [Read more]