According to the Russian news agency Interfax, Russia’s only independent, non-governmental polling organisation, the Levada-Center, could be forced to register as a “foreign agent”. A law passed by the Duma in 2012 requires NGOs to register as “foreign agents” if they seek any international funding and also subjects the organisations to extensive government inspection. The law has already been used to target hundreds of NGOs, including the election monitor, GOLOS, and the longstanding Russian human rights organisation, Memorial.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office has argued that Levada has received significant funding from abroad, and should therefore be targeted by the 2012 law.

Lev Gudkov, director of the Levada-Center stated that they are not planning to register as a “foreign agent” and will fight the prosecutors in court if necessary. Gudkov confirmed that the organisation receives foreign grants and is involved in numerous international projects, but that this is done with complete transparency.  He added that Levada has not yet received any official documents from the prosecution.

Meanwhile, even after the prosecutors started the investigation, a series of Levada polls revealed uncomfortable results for the government. In particular, one poll revealed that half of Russians agree with the description of the ruling United Russia party as “the party of crooks and thieves” and believe that the cabinet of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is “ineffective”.

In another poll carried out last month, the Levada surveyed Russian attitudes to political prisoners and the Bolotnaya and Kirovles cases, revealing that of those aware of politically motivated persecution in Russia 37 per cent associated it with the name of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. More on that poll can be read here.