Prosecutor General's Office brands Bellingcat, Insider, Czech NGO undesirable in Russia

MOSCOW. July 15 (Interfax) - The Prosecutor General's Office has declared undesirable in Russia the operations of Bellingcat and Insider, earlier designated as foreign agents, and the Czech-based Central and Eastern European Law Initiative Institute (CEELI Institute).

"Having studied the available materials, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office decided to declare undesirable in Russia the operations of foreign non-governmental organizations Bellingcat Ltd. (the UK), Stichting Bellingcat (the Netherlands) (designated in Russia as a foreign agent), The Insider (Latvia) (designated in Russia as a foreign agent), and Central and Eastern European Law Initiative Institute (CEELI Institute) (Czechia)," the Prosecutor General's Office told Interfax.

Russian prosecutors believe that the activity of these organizations "poses a threat to fundamentals of the Russian constitutional system and security."

"The information about this decision has been relayed to the Russian Justice Ministry, which will make respective entries in the list of foreign and international non-governmental organizations the activity of which has been declared undesirable in Russia and will make the relevant announcement," the Office said.

The Russian Justice Ministry added Stichting Bellingcat to the register of foreign-agent media outlets on October 8, 2021. Moscow's Tagansky District Court fined the project 500,000 rubles in March over the lack of proper labeling.

Last summer, the Russian Justice Ministry added a Latvian legal entity, The Insider SIA registered in Riga on June 26, 2015, as the domain administrator for The Insider online media outlet, to the register of foreign-agent media outlets.

Later on, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin said that The Insider and the Project, designated as foreign-agents in Russia, are connected to Bellingcat that employs former security service officers.

CEELI Institute is a Czech NGO founded in 1999. According to the Institute website, it aims to "promote the supremacy of law."