Russian rights defender Nadezhda Kutepova has received political asylum in France, RFE/RL reports:
Kutepova, the director of the Planeta Nadezhd (A Planet of Hope) nongovernmental organization, left for France in July after Russian authorities branded her organization a “foreign agent” and a local television channel accused her group of espionage.The controversial “foreign agents” law, adopted in 2012, requires any NGO that receives funding from abroad and engages in political activity to formally register as a foreign agent.
Kutepova’s NGO, based in the city of Ozersk in the Chelyabinsk region, was involved in defending the rights of radiation victims and received funding from Russia’s Atomic Agency and the National Endowment for Democracy, the U.S.-based democracy assistance group, amongst others, the report adds.
