Russian green group labelled 'foreign agent' in crackdown on NGOs

Dauria, that has led ecological campaigns for 20 years, joins nearly 100 environmental and human rights groups hit by law preventing them from receiving funding from abroad

An ecological centre in Russia's far east has become the latest environmental group to be declared a "foreign agent" amid a wider crackdown on NGOs.

The justice ministry ruled that Dauria, which has led environmental campaigns in Chita and the surrounding Zabaikalsky region for nearly two decades, was a foreign agent under a law that prohibits NGOs that allegedly engage in political activities from receiving grants from abroad. The label, which has all the connotations of the word "spy" in Russian, requires groups to undergo audits and declare this status on all their materials or face large fines.