Putin Moving Backwards

A foggy morning on the northern Chinese plain as I'm preparing to fly to Moscow.

In a move that has been given far too little attention, the Duma in Moscow is busy deciding on a new legislation that seems to be designed to drive all foreign NGO's out of the country as well as to radically curb the activities of domestic NGO's.

If enacted, it means that the Carnegie Moscow Center, where I am on the Advisory Board and which today is the only foreign think-thank established in Moscow, will have to close down.

It has been a most valuable meeting-point between Russia and the outside world, as well as contributing substantially to the understanding of developments in the country.

But that's only one of the many consequences. The New Eurasia Foundation might well meet the same fate.

Today's Washington Post has an editorial on the issue. It is high time for Europe to speak up as well.

Mr. Putin's Counterrevolution