MOSCOW, January 14 (RAPSI) – The Russian Ministry of Justice has submitted a bill to the government to eventually remove some NGOs from the foreign agents list, Minister Alexander Konovalov told journalists on Wednesday.

Since November 2012, political NGOs funded from abroad were compelled by law to register as foreign agents. In June 2013, the Justice Ministry was granted authority to classify NGOs as foreign agents at its own discretion and included a number of organizations in its register.

Russian NGOs have criticized this law on numerous occasions and filed complaints against it in courts, including the European Court of Human Rights.

In December 2014, the Russian Ministry of Justice proposed excluding NGOs from the registry of foreign agents upon requests of the NGOs after occasional compliance inspections.

To confirm that an NGO can be excluded from the register, the Justice Ministry will conduct an unscheduled audit and make a decision within three months of receiving the application. The Federal Law on Non-Governmental Organizations will include possible reasons for these audits.