The Russian authorities on Monday banned Amnesty International as an “undesirable organisation”, thereby criminalising its activities and any association with the organisation in the country.

The Sverdlovsk region directorate of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said the decision was taken as per the country's policy of cleaning the nation's information space of any destructive external influences.

"Decisions to recognize the activities of foreign public organizations as undesirable in our country are aimed at defending Russia’s information space and society from destructive external influences. The designation of such organization is an instrument to objectively assess information about their activities," Sverdlovsk region directorate of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement as quoted by TASS.

'Broader Effort To Silence Dissent'

Amnesty International reacted to the decision and said it is part of the Russian government’s broader effort to silence dissent and isolate civil society.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said in a statement: "In a country where scores of activists and dissidents have been imprisoned, killed or exiled, where independent media has been smeared, blocked or forced to self-censor, and where civil society organizations have been outlawed or liquidated, you must be doing something right if the Kremlin bans you."

“The authorities are deeply mistaken if they believe that by labelling our organization 'undesirable' we will stop our work documenting and exposing human rights violations – quite the opposite," Callamard said.

"We will not give in to the threats and will continue undeterred to work to ensure that people in Russia are able to enjoy their human rights without discrimination," she said.

"We will keep documenting and speaking worldwide about the war crimes committed in Ukraine by Russia," she said.

'Russia's Human Rights Violations'

She said Amnesty International will redouble our efforts to expose Russia’s egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad. 

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office declared Amnesty International an “undesirable organisation” under 2015 Russian legislation, which allows the authorities to ban arbitrarily any foreign organisation and criminalise its activities in the country.