Nonprofit Group in Russia Raided

Russian police raided a nonprofit group in Moscow, strengthening fears of a government crackdown on nongovernmental organizations, reports the Associated Press.

The police took financial records and computer servers from the Educated Media Foundation, the Russian office of a California group that promotes independent news media.

Manana Aslamazian, the foundation’s president, said police told her the search had to do with a criminal case against her stemming from $10,000 in undeclared cash she brought into the country.

But Ms. Aslamazian says she believes the investigation was a result of “the overall campaign of caution and suspicion toward nongovernmental organizations that receive money from abroad.”

The Kremlin has recently accused nonprofit organizations—especially those that promote democracy or human rights—of being little more than spies or proxies for the United States and other Western countries, and has said the groups are trying to interfere in Russian politics. Critics of the Russian government say that supporters of President Vladimir Putin are trying to solidify their power and eliminate dissent.

Ms. Aslamazian said her organization cannot work without its documents and equipment. “I cannot close the organization, but on the other hand, we cannot work,” she tells the newspaper.