Foreign humanitarian agencies suspend work in Russia

MOSCOW, Oct 19 (Reuters) Leading foreign humanitarian aid groups suspended work in Russia today after failing a registration deadline under a controversial new law they say will allow the Kremlin to intrude in their work.

''We're allowed to go into our offices to pay our electricity bills, but we can't do anything concerning our work,'' said New York-based Human Rights Watch's Moscow chief Alison Gill.

''We've suspended our work as of today,'' she said, following the expiration of an October 18 re-registration deadline.

President Vladimir Putin, a former KGB spy, says the law is needed to combat terrorism and stop foreign spies using NGOs as cover. Critics say it gives officials a free hand to crack down on civil society at a time when the Kremlin exerts increasing control over the media and political parties..

Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Danish Refugee Council -- the only Western humanitarian agency working in the breakaway region of Chechnya -- are among those forced to suspend work until their application to re-register is cleared.

Questions of human rights and press freedom were spotlighted by the October 7 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who had stoked controversy with accusations of torture in Chechnya. The perpetrators of the apparent contract killing have yet to be found.

''Obviously we are not happy that we had to suspend our work,'' said Amnesty International spokeswoman Lydia Aroyo in London. ''We are seeking clarification. We will continue researching human rights violations in Russia out of London.'' The new law requires any foreign NGO operating in Russia to produce endless notarised documents, including passport numbers and home addresses and telephone numbers back in home countries, to a federal agency which decides whether to approve them.

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