Putin admits changes in the NGO law

Vladimir Putin does not exclude a possibility of amending the Russian legislation that regulates the activities of NGOs.

"As to the civil society, we'll get back and scrutinize the current legislation once over again, and should it seem necessary to correct something, we can probably do it by addressing the Duma," Mr Putin said in his presentation at the "St-Petersburg Dialogue" Forum in Wiesbaden.

"As far as I understand, after passage in Russia of the law on NGOs, no catastrophe has happened, as some people had forecasted," Russian President has emphasized as quoted by the RIA "Novosti."

The "Caucasian Knot" has informed earlier that according to the law on non-commercial organizations (NCOs) that was enacted in April 2006, foreign and international NCOs should have re-registered before October 18, 2006. NCO representatives complained that the FRS (Federal Registration Service) had demanded to present information, which was not stipulated by the law, for example, translations into Russian of their national legislation about NCOs. After numerous complaints, the re-registration deadline was postponed, but provided the organizations stop their work while the documents were considered.

The situation caused a temporary suspension of the activities in Russia of such well-known human rights organizations like the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, "Physicians Without Borders," "Legal Initiative in Russia," "International Prison Reform" and the American Bar Association.