RUSSIA: Scores of foreign humanitarian aid groups and charities which failed to meet a deadline for registration under a controversial new law must suspend their work in Russia from today.
Amnesty International, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) - one of the biggest organisations working in Chechnya - are among those obliged to cease their activities.
Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) said their applications were delayed by bureaucratic demands to produce endless notarised documents, including passport details.
The law obliges NGOs to provide a "work plan" for 2007 and furnish internal documents on request and to submit an application to the federal registration service by yesterday.
By last night only 91 foreign organisations out of up to 500 working in Russia were approved. All organisations whose applications are still under review are obliged to suspend their work until they receive an answer, a process that can take as long as a month.
President Vladimir Putin claims NGOs are a hotbed for spies and the law is necessary to clamp down on groups used as a channel for funding terrorists. EU leaders plan to question the Russian leader over democratic freedoms when they meet him in Finland tomorrow.