Putin’s Closed Russia: Open Russia blacklisted by Kremlin ahead of Saturday’s protests - Main contents

The Liberal and Democrat Group in the European Parliament strongly condemns the latest crackdown on Russian civil society, following the decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office to ban three NGOs founded by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, former prisoner of conscience and ardent Kremlin critic.

Designated as “undesirable” by the Russian authorities, Open Russia, the Open Russia Civic Movement and the Institute of Modern Russia are accused of carrying out “special programmes and projects” in order to “discredit the results of the elections in Russia, to declare their results as illegitimate.”

MEP Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands) ALDE AFET coordinator and ALDE Party President, said:

"Putin has chosen a closed Russia and the ban on Open Russia is a clear proof of this. Only an open and democratic Russia will be able to serve the interests of the Russian people, its direct neighbours and the world at large. Therefore we support Open Russia.”

ALDE MEP, Petras Auštrevičius (Liberal Movement of Lithuania), added:

"Open Russia's activities have been banned as they opposed the scenario of "closed Russia", the one that is being implemented by the Kremlin. This is clearly a deplorable and unacceptable move by Putin and his entourage. For us, in the EU, this only proves that Open Russia will need more of our support. Open Russia has always been and will undoubtedly continue being a true partner in our sincere efforts to reach out to the Russian people."

Open Russia recently launched its "Open Elections" campaign to promote opposition candidates for the 2015-2018 election cycle and sought to mobilise Saturday's nationwide rallies with a call for Putin to forgo a re-election bid in 2018.