Staff at Amnesty International in Moscow say their office has been broken into and sealed off by municipal officials. When employees arrived on Wednesday they found new locks on the door and a stamped paper across the entrance that demanded the office contact the city authorities, said Alexander Artemyev of human rights group’s Moscow office. Artemyev said the Moscow employees planned to present documents to authorities on Thursday proving they had paid rent. The climate for human rights work in Russia has worsened in recent years, and a law has forced organisations with foreign funding to declare themselves as “foreign agents”. “But we genuinely hope this is not the case, and our colleagues will be able to promptly return to their office and resume normal work.”

Source: The Guardian November 02, 2016 10:33 UTC