Methodology

This report is based on 35 interviews with NGO and other activists conducted in six Russian cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Voronezh (486 kilometers south of Moscow), Nizhny Novgorod (406 kilometers east of Moscow),  Rostov-on-Don (1057 kilometers south of Moscow), and Syktyvkar (1310 kilometers east of Moscow)  between January and April 2013. The report also draws on interviews with activists from Arkhangelsk, Maykop, Kazan, Novocherkask, and Karabulak that were conducted by telephone and by email. All interviews were done by two Human Rights Watch researchers who are native speakers of Russian, and another Human Rights Watch staffer who speaks Russian fluently.

Human Rights Watch also reviewed media interviews with government officials and publicly available official documents including laws and draft laws, explanatory parliamentary memoranda accompanying draft laws, government letters, and official directives. We also attended roundtable discussions on the new NGO law that included Ministry of Justice officials.