Russian Science Foundation Closes Over ‘Foreign Agent’ Law

A Russian mogul’s science charity that was branded a “foreign agent” by the Kremlin has folded, The Guardian and Nature write. The Dynasty Foundation announced the closure in a one-line statement on its website Monday, a day after the group’s board approved the decision.

Dynasty’s patron, former telecommunications magnate Dmitry Zimin, had pledged to shutter the foundation rather than obey the May order that it register with the government under a 2012 law on nonprofits that get foreign funding. Mr. Zimin used bank accounts located abroad to fund the organization, which supports science education in Russia and makes grants to young researchers and mathematicians.

Moscow appears to be accelerating a crackdown on international funding of domestic nonprofit groups, particuarly those focused on human rights and democracy. On Wednesday the government moved to place 12 foreign nonprofits, including the U.S.-based Open Society, MacArthur, and Charles Stewart Mott foundations, on a blacklist of organizations that could be banned from operating in Russia.