Russian NGO slapped with fine as 'foreign agent'

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s only independent election monitoring group was fined 300,000 rubles ($10,000) on Thursday for failing to register as a foreign agent — the first enforcement by Russian authorities of a much-disputed law.

The Russian parliament passed legislation in November obliging nongovernmental organizations that receive foreign funding and are involved in loosely defined political activities to register as foreign agents. Rights defenders and civil society activists see it as a tool intended to erode their credibility.