Russian court orders Jewish nonprofit dissolved

A Russian court dissolves a Jewish community association in a move that critics said was part of a larger crackdown on grassroots organizations but that others said was procedural.

The Cherepovets City Court struck the association known as The Jewish Community of Cherepovets off the register of nonprofit organizations, citing repeated failures to file the financial activity reports required by law of such organizations, the Interfax news agency reports.

The ruling comes amid a crackdown in Russia on nongovernmental organizations with foreign ties, as per a law adopted by the Russian parliament in 2012 that requires NGOs to register as “foreign agents” with the Ministry of Justice if they engage in “political activity” and receive foreign funding.

The Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, the Chabad-affiliated body responsible for dozens of the country’s Jewish congregations, said in a statement Thursday that the dissolution was “a technical issue” as the Jewish association in Cherepovets, which was founded in 2005, had for a while existed only on paper.

“Community activities became more and more nominal. The reason for the closure was that the community ceased to provide reports on their activities,” said Boruch Gorin, a senior aide to Russian Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar.

— JTA