Russia designates Human Rights Watch as ‘undesirable organisation’, threatens full ban on WhatsApp amid crackdown

Russian authorities outlawed an international human rights group named Human Rights Watch on Friday, labelling it as an “undesirable organisation” as Moscow's crackdown on dissent continued.

Under a 2015 law, those associated with such organisations will be held accountable under criminal offense. This means that the international human rights body is required to stop all its work in Russia, and those who support or cooperate with the group might be subject to prosecution.

Russia has been cracking down on Kremlin critics, journalists and activists for years, and Friday's decision serves as a continuation of that stance. The crackdown has only intensified after Russia's war on Ukraine since February 2022.

Founded in 1978, Human Rights Watch monitors and researches human rights violations in countries across the world.

Band named extremist group, Navalny's organisation labelled as terrorist

Separately in another statement on Friday, authorities said that Russia was opening a case against a feminist band based in the country named Pussy Riot, which would designate it as an extremist group.

On Thursday, Russia’s Supreme Court labelled the Anti-Corruption Foundation created by the late opposition activist Alexei Navalny as a terrorist group.

In its ruling, the top court cited the organisations US-registered entity , which became the focal point for the group when the original Anti-Corruption Foundation was designated an “undesirable organisation” by the Russian government in 2021.

“There is no doubt that other organisations will soon be designated as ‘terrorists’ — independent media, human rights projects, and local initiatives,” the foundation said in a statement.

“This is a political strategy used by the Russian authorities: to declare anyone who interferes with their theft and endless war an enemy of the state,” it added.

Currently, there are more than 275 entities that fall under Russia's list of “undesirable organisation”, which include prominent rights groups and news channels.

Will Russia ban WhatsApp?

In a separate development, Russia's state communications watchdog threatened to impose a full ban on WhatsApp if it fails to comply with the state's law, Reuters reported quoting news agencies.

Moscow had in August started to block some WhatsApp calls as well as those on Telegram. It had accused these foreign-owned platforms of refusing to share information with law enforcement in fraud and terrorism cases.

The Roskomnadzor watchdog again issued the warning, accusing WhatsApp of failing to comply with Russian norms designed to prevent and combat crime.

"If the messaging service continues to fail to meet the demands of Russian legislation, it will be completely blocked," Interfax news agency quoted it as saying.

WhatsApp has accused Moscow of trying to block millions of Russians from accessing secure communication.