{"id":3776,"date":"2025-11-29T08:00:01","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=3776"},"modified":"2025-11-29T08:00:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T08:00:01","slug":"russia-bans-human-rights-watch-in-widening-crackdown-on-critics-russia-ukraine-war-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/?p=3776","title":{"rendered":"Russia bans Human Rights Watch in widening crackdown on critics | Russia-Ukraine war News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p class=\"article__subhead\"><em>Authorities also designate Anti-Corruption Foundation as \u2018terrorist\u2019 group and consider total ban on WhatsApp.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-dates\">\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Published On 29 Nov 2025<\/span><span aria-hidden=\"true\">29 Nov 2025<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"rich-share\" data-testid=\"rich-share\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"rich-share__button-wrapper\"><button class=\"rich-share__button row\" aria-expanded=\"false\"><\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p><svg class=\"icon icon--share2 icon--primary icon--16 \" viewbox=\"0 0 20 16\" version=\"1.1\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><title>share2<\/title><path fill=\"#000\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" d=\"M11.688 9.048c-.659 0-1.252.282-1.673.733l-4.92-2.45c.016-.115.028-.232.028-.352 0-.117-.011-.23-.027-.343l4.913-2.423a2.285 2.285 0 0 0 1.68.739C12.964 4.952 14 3.899 14 2.6 14 1.302 12.965.25 11.688.25S9.377 1.302 9.377 2.601c0 .117.01.23.027.343L4.49 5.367a2.285 2.285 0 0 0-1.68-.739C1.536 4.628.5 5.681.5 6.979c0 1.299 1.035 2.35 2.312 2.35.659 0 1.252-.281 1.673-.731l4.92 2.45a2.357 2.357 0 0 0-.029.351c0 1.299 1.035 2.351 2.312 2.351S14 12.698 14 11.399s-1.035-2.35-2.312-2.35Z\" clip-rule=\"evenodd\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Russian authorities have outlawed Human Rights Watch as an \u201cundesirable organisation\u201d, a label that, under a 2015 law, makes involvement with it a criminal offence.<\/p>\n<p>Friday\u2019s designation means the international human rights group must stop all work in Russia, and opens those who cooperate with or support the organisation to prosecution.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 4 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p class=\"p1\">HRW has repeatedly accused Russia of suppressing dissenters and committing war crimes during its ongoing war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor over three decades, Human Rights Watch\u2019s work on post-Soviet Russia has pressed the government to uphold human rights and freedoms,\u201d the executive director at Human Rights Watch, Philippe Bolopion, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur work hasn\u2019t changed, but what\u2019s changed, dramatically, is the government\u2019s full-throttled embrace of dictatorial policies, its staggering rise in repression, and the scope of the war crimes its forces are committing in Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The decision by the Russian prosecutor general\u2019s office is the latest move in a crackdown on Kremlin critics, journalists and activists, which has intensified since Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.<\/p>\n<p>In a separate statement on Friday, the office said it was opening a case against Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot that would designate the group as an \u201cextremist\u201d organisation.<\/p>\n<p>Separately, Russia\u2019s Supreme Court designated on Thursday the Anti-Corruption Foundation set up by the late opposition activist Alexey Navalny as a \u201cterrorist\u201d group.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling targeted the foundation\u2019s United States-registered entity, which became the focal point for the group when the original Anti-Corruption Foundation was designated an \u201cundesirable organisation\u201d by the Russian government in 2021.<\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s list of \u201cundesirable organisations\u201d currently covers more than 275 entities, including prominent independent news outlets and rights groups.<\/p>\n<p>Among those are prominent news organisations like Radio Free Europe\/Radio Liberty, think tanks like Chatham House, anticorruption group Transparency International, and environmental advocacy organisation World Wildlife Fund.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 1978, Human Rights Watch monitors human rights violations in various countries across the world.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"whatsapp-might-be\">WhatsApp might be \u2018completely blocked\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>Meanwhile, Russia\u2019s state communications watchdog threatened on Friday to block WhatsApp entirely if it fails to comply with Russian law.<\/p>\n<p>In August, Russia began limiting some calls on WhatsApp, owned by Meta Platforms, and on Telegram, accusing the foreign-owned platforms of refusing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and \u201cterrorism\u201d cases.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, the Roskomnadzor watchdog again accused WhatsApp of failing to comply with Russian requirements designed to prevent and combat crime.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the messaging service continues to fail to meet the demands of Russian legislation, it will be completely blocked,\u201d Interfax news agency quoted it as saying.<\/p>\n<p>WhatsApp has accused Moscow of trying to block millions of Russians from accessing secure communication.<\/p>\n<p>Russian authorities are pushing a state-backed rival app called MAX, which critics claim could be used to track users. State media have dismissed those accusations as false.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Authorities also designate Anti-Corruption Foundation as \u2018terrorist\u2019 group and consider total ban on WhatsApp. Published On 29 Nov 202529 Nov 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Russian authorities have outlawed Human Rights Watch as an \u201cundesirable organisation\u201d, a label that, under a 2015 law, makes involvement with it a criminal offence. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3777,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}