In an open letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, dozens of German scientists and representatives of think tanks such as the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS) and the German Association for East European Studies (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Osteuropakunde (DGO) protest against the listing of EPDE and its Lithuanian member IESC as “undesirable organisations” in Russia and demand the withdrawal of this action.

The signatories of the protest, including Sabine Fischer (SWP), Gabriele Freitag (DGO), Stefan Meister (DGAP) and Gwendolyn Sasse (ZOiS), argue that the listing shows the Russian government’s unwillingness to allow independent civil society monitoring of any elections in the country.