Posted 21.07.2012 13:12:54 UTC
Updated 21.07.2012 14:37:38 UTC
The new law will consider the civil rights groups, which are funded from abroad as "Foreign Agents".
The foreign source financed NGOs operating in Russia will have to report their annual income to the Russian administration and will have to make their income statement public.
The NGO managers who do not fulfill the obligations required by the new, law will have to serve time in jail for four years and will be fined $9.000.
The law will force non-governmental organisations engaging only in "political activity" and they will have to register with the Russian Justice Ministry as "foreign agents".
Human Rights groups and the opposition in the country reacted harshly against the new law, especially the new definition of NGOs status as "foreign agents'", defending that the term has a negative connotation implying "intelligence agent".
Helsinki Citizens Assembly, one of the oldest NGO in Russia, earlier announced that they will shut their office in Moscow instead of respecting the new law.