Russia Goes NGO-Hunting In Central Asia, Where NGOs Have Enough Problems

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — When Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu spoke of Moscow taking “preventive measures” against “pro-Western” NGOs in the Central Asian region last week, he may not have known that he was speaking on World NGO Day.

It is not a date well-celebrated in Russia, where some of the most vocal and politically active nonprofits have been designated “foreign agents” and “undesirable organizations” in recent years or simply shut down.

Indeed, when Shoigu referenced what he called the “complicated” situation in Central Asia, he…