I. Background

The crackdown after Putin’s May 2012 inauguration follows an authoritarian trajectory that began in 2004, when the Kremlin facilitated the dismantling of checks and balances on central executive power and cracked down on foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).  In autumn 2004, Putin introduced a number of political reforms, including new election rules for the State Duma (the lower house of parliament), that made it significantly more difficult for opposition parties to get seats and provided for the appointment of regional governors, who had previously been elected by popular vote.[1]

Following the “colored revolutions” in Georgia (2003) and Ukraine (2004) – popular uprisings perceived to have been driven by foreign-funded NGOs – Russian government leaders expressed profound suspicion that foreign or foreign-funded organizations in Russia aimed to undermine the country's sovereignty.  A 2006 law on NGOs imposed new, onerous reporting requirements on NGOs, especially relating to any foreign sources of funding. It further provided for intrusive inspections of NGOs on an annual basis and also for “unannounced” inspections, which became one of several tools for harassing NGOs and obstructing their work.[2]

The law had a punitive dimension: it authorized government agencies to issue warnings to NGOs for a wide variety of violations, many of them quite minor, such as not filing timely activity reports. The implementation of these regulations granted the government the authority to petition a court to dissolve an organization that has received as few as two warnings regarding the same violation.

The lead-up to the 2007-2008 election cycle occasioned numerous inspections of NGOs, other harassment of civil society activists and human rights defenders, and hostile official rhetoric characterizing foreign-funded NGOs as a cover for “foreign” interests.[3]

During Dmitry Medvedev’s presidency the Duma adopted amendments somewhat softening NGO regulations, including by limiting planned inspections to once every three years, and in December 2011 it adopted legislative amendments decriminalizing libel. [4] In March and April 2012 it also adopted amendments liberalizing the parliamentary electoral system, which critics characterized as decorative only. [5] The reforms were adopted too late to apply to the December 4, 2011 parliamentary vote, which saw the ruling party win 49.3 percent of the vote.

The September 2011 announcement by Medvedev and then-Prime Minister Putin that they would essentially switch posts triggered public criticism that built rapidly in the lead-up to the December 2011 parliamentary elections. Soon after the vote, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest alleged election fraud. Massive, peaceful rallies, unprecedented in Russia’s post-Soviet period, continued throughout the winter and spring, with participants variously denouncing corruption, calling for fair elections, and expressing general dissatisfaction with Putin and the ruling party, United Russia. [6]

Putin won the March 4, 2012 presidential election with 63.6 percent of the vote.[7] His inauguration was held May 7, 2012.