Soldiers’ Mothers, an influential Russian non-profit group composed of the family members of Russian soldiers and purposed to act as a watch dog over the use and abuse of Russian soldiers, was labelled “foreign agent” by the government in August after criticizing the government for sending Russian troops into Ukraine to fight an undeclared war, and the group is now applying to be removed from the list.
“In making this appeal, we do not contest Justice Ministry’s actions. We merely ask to be excluded from the register in light of the fact that we do not fall under the category of ‘foreign agent,'” said a spokesperson for the group, Alexander Peredruk.
The group was put on the list after its leaders made certain comments on the conflict in Ukraine in August. The chairman of Soldiers’ Mothers and a member of the Kremlin’s human rights council, Ella Polyakova, made statements on an independent television channel regarding 100 injured Russian soldiers who had been transported to a hospital in St Petersburg. She noted that the government had given no information about from where the injured soldiers had been transported, and hinted that it was Eastern Ukraine, citing information collected by Soldiers’ Mothers on the matter.
Polyakova referred to the information of other Soldiers’ Mothers and said that Russian soldiers in Dagestan had been paid the equivalent of $7000 to fight in Ukraine.
Soldiers’ Mothers had been on Russia’s watch list since March, when its leaders made statements that were viewed as constituting “political activity” by the Russian Justice Ministry. The group received grants from organizations based overseas, according to Russian news agency Kommersant.
According to a 2012 Russian law, any NGO that receives foreign funding and conducts political activity must register as a “foreign agent.”
Soldiers’ Mothers appealed the inclusion on the registry, saying that they had stopped receiving foreign funding in May, and had since June been relying exclusively on the Russian government.
“This does not mean we agree with decision [of the Justice Ministry] to include us on the list, of course,” said Peredruk. “That matter will still be challenged in court.”