"Soldiers' Mothers of Saint Petersburg" put on register of foreign agents after requesting about Russian militaries in Ukraine

The human rights organization "Soldiers' Mothers of Saint Petersburg", whose leader Ella Polyakova voiced out the death of nine Russian soldiers during military operations in the territory of Ukraine, was put into the register of non-profit organizations – foreign agents.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 25, Sergey Krivenko and Ella Polyakova, members of the Council under the Russian President on Civil Society Development and Human Rights (known as SPCh), appealed to the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) asking to check the information about the death of nine contractors of the 18^th Motorised Brigade in the firing range in the Rostov Region.

According to Polyakova, her organization is constantly checked by various agencies. RIA "Novosti" informed that last year Anatoly Artyukh, an Orthodox activist and assistant of the Petersburg Deputy Vitaly Milonov, addressed the FSB and the Prosecutor's Office asking to check the activities of the above "Soldiers' Mothers of Saint Petersburg" for compliance with the legislation on foreign agents. He stated that the "Soldiers' Mothers" were advising young men, who wished to escape recruiting, as well as military deserters, provided legal support to complaints and claims, and organized press conferences, roundtables and seminars for the money received from abroad; however, the organization was not registered as a foreign agent.

According to Ella Polyakova, on August 26, a court session was to take place at the request of the City Prosecutor's Office, demanding to force the organization to get registered as a foreign agent.

"However, the session was postponed. Now we are in the process of prosecutor's check," Ella Polyakova told the portal named "Slon" on August 27.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.