On Friday, the Russian Ministry of Justice added the U.S.-based human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) to its list of “unacceptable” organizations in Russia.
According to Current Time, the relevant updates were entered into the agency’s registry.
In 2022, the organization’s website in Russia was blocked by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office. The Prosecutor General’s Office claimed it had identified “false information” on HRW’s website regarding the war initiated by Russia against Ukraine.
HRW, established in 1978, monitors human rights violations worldwide and publishes an annual report detailing human rights abuses in various countries.
According to Ukrinform, HRW has consistently reported on war crimes committed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
In particular, this year, human rights defenders reported that Russian forces repeatedly used drones to deliberately target civilians and civilian infrastructure in Kherson, committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. HRW also published a report asserting that the Russian Federation is systematically erasing the Ukrainian language and curriculum, imposing anti-Ukrainian propaganda, and enforcing Russian as the language of instruction in schools within temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine.
