BRUSSELS, July 13 - RAPSI. European Commissioner for Home Affairs Anna Cecilia Malmstroem expressed her concern on Twitter on Friday over Russia's adoption of a law branding non-profit organizations "foreign agents" and a "website blacklist" containing information banned from distribution in the country.
The State Duma passed in the third reading a bill on granting a foreign agent status to nonprofit organizations financed from abroad and involved in politics at its meeting on Friday.
The "foreign agents" will be entered into a special registry and different legal regulations will be applied to them, which will not affect ordinary non-profit organizations.
The regulations will stipulate specific accountability and checks.
On Wednesday, the State Duma approved in the second and third readings a law on setting up a single registry of domains and websites with illegal content. The registry will be established as of November.
A draft law envisaging the blacklist was submitted to the State Duma in early June and adopted in the first reading on July 6. The list will include websites with information harmful for children, especially child pornography or promoting suicide or drugs.
The Internet community reacted negatively to the bill, fearing government censorship. Wikipedia staged a protest as a result, temporarily shutting down its Russian segment on Tuesday.