Russia Shuts Down Arctic Indigenous Rights Group

Moscow’s city court has ruled to disband an indigenous people’s rights group almost 20 years after its founding, according to the Moscow Times.

Russian authorities blacklisted the Center for Support of Indigenous Peoples of the North/Russian Indigenous Training Center (CSIPN/RITC) as a “foreign agent” in 2015. Founded in 2001 to provide wide-ranging assistance to the peoples of the Russian North, Siberia and the Far East, the NGO renounced its foreign funding and was taken off the “foreign agent” list last year.

“The Arctic and its resources mean a lot to Russian business and its budget. That’s why companies look at indigenous minorities as a barrier to their activities,” CSIPN/RITC’s Director Rodion Sulyandziga is quoted as saying.