Russian prosecutors are defending their wave of raids on non-governmental organizations, saying they are trying to weed out underground groups and combat money laundering.
The spokeswoman for the prosecutor general’s office, Maria Gridneva, spoke Thursday as international criticism over the searches mounted. France and Germany have summoned Russia‘s ambassadors to explain the searches. The U.S., Britain and the EU have also expressed concerns.
Gridneva said the searches mostly aim to stop groups violating Russia‘s vaguely worded “extremism” statute.
Prosecutors and other officials have raided as many as 2,000 NGOs in the past month under wildly varying and legally dubious pretenses, according to Pavel Chikov, a member of the presidential human rights council.
Although political NGOs face the worst pressure, the searches have also affected French-language courses in Siberia and birdwatchers.