Open Dialogue Foundation is on the list of “undesirable” organisations in Russia

26 March 2024 | Author: Natalia Melnychenko

On 25 March 2024, the Russian Ministry of Justice announced that our Foundation had been blacklisted as an “undesirable” organisation in that country. This means that we are prohibited from conducting any activities in Russia. Violation of this ban is punishable by administrative fines and imprisonment for up to 15 years.

Nietypowe wyrazy uznania dla naszej pracy: Ministerstwo Sprawiedliwości Rosji wpisało ODF na 152 miejsce listy "niepożądanych organizacji". Naszemu szefostwu, czyli @LyudaKozlovska, @bartek_kramek i @mycielski, grozi w 🇷🇺 po 15 lat więzienia za zarządzanie i pracę w ODF.… pic.twitter.com/1GEywfWVwX
— Open Dialogue Foundation / Fundacja Otwarty Dialog (@ODFoundation) March 26, 2024

‘This is a peculiar form of recognition of our work. I am only surprised that it has taken so long,’ commented Bartosz Kramek, Chair of the Supervisory Board of the Open Dialogue Foundation (ODF), in an interview with Onet. ODF became the 152nd organisation to be placed on the Russian prosecutor’s list of undesirable entities. This was made possible by a 2015 law that allowed the authorities to label foreign and international non-governmental organisations, as well as companies, as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation if they ‘pose a threat to the constitutional order, defence or security of Russia’. ‘Roskomnadzor blocked access to our website in Russia back in 2015 for “spreading extremist content”, which was the classification applied to our reports on Russian aggression in Ukraine. The description of the activities of volunteer battalions was classified at the time as promoting Banderaism. We resumed large-scale humanitarian aid in February 2022 and have been actively working to prevent Russia’s circumvention of Western sanctions with the help of third countries. Joining this “exclusive club” only strengthens our resolve to double down on our efforts,’ adds Kramek.

From the date of its inclusion on the list, 14 February 2024, ODF is officially banned from operating in the Russian Federation. In accordance with the aforementioned 2015 law, the Prosecutor General’s Office, which assigns this status to organisations in consultation with the Ministry of Justice, is not obliged to publicly explain the reasons for its decision. Participation in an undesirable organisation is punishable in Russia by an administrative fine of 15,000 roubles, and our leaders – Lyudmyla Kozlovska, Bartosz Kramek and Martin Mycielski – face up to 15 years in prison for managing or working for the Foundation.

‘For many years of PiS rule, we were effectively considered an enemy organisation by the Polish authorities, and I was deemed a threat to national security based on a secret opinion by the Internal Security Agency and an official government decision. This changed after the political breakthrough at the end of last year. Apparently, nature abhors a vacuum, after all,’ commented Lyudmyla Kozlovska.

In the media:

Read also:

ODF website blocked in Russia (30.05.2015)