The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis is a

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

-based

nongovernmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

and

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

conducting

sociological research Social research is research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative. * Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable ev ...

primarily on

nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...

and racism in post-Soviet Russia. Currently, SOVA devotes its monitoring, research and advocacy to three projects: Misuse of Anti-Extremism Legislation, Racism and Xenophobia, and Religion in Secular Society. SOVA publishes print reports in Russian and maintains a website updating readers in both Russian and English. Its reports are often cited by Western media sources including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. In December 2016 Russia's

Ministry of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

added Sova Centre to the so-called list of "foreign agent". In April 2023 the

Moscow City Court The Moscow City Court () is the highest judicial body of the city of Moscow on civil, criminal, administrative and other cases. District courts of Moscow External links Official website
{{Authority control Courts in Russia Governme ...

ordered the SOVA Center to close over claims that it carried out its activities throughout Russia despite only being registered in Moscow. The order occurred during a crackdown on human rights and independent organizations in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

History and Structure

Members of the

Moscow Helsinki Group The Moscow Helsinki Group (also known as the Moscow Helsinki Watch Group, ) was one of Russia's leading human rights organisations. It was originally set up in 1976 to monitor Soviet compliance with the Helsinki Accords and to report to the West ...

and th
Russian research center "Panorama"
established SOVA in October 2002. SOVA is based in Moscow and receives funding from several Western think tanks. The organization's director is Alexander Verkhovsky, and its deputy director was Galina Kozhevnikova until her death in March 2011. SOVA's activities are devoted to the following projects:

Misuse of Anti-Extremism Legislation

Monitoring and reporting on the improper application of anti-extremism legislation in Russian courts. This project reports on trial decisions, wrongfully banned materials (texts and otherwise), improper punishments delivered in connection with legitimate or illegitimate extremism convictions, and other relevant topics. The Administrative and Criminal Code of the Russian Federation are central to its activities.

Racism and Xenophobia

Monitoring and reporting on the activities of radical right-wing and nationalist groups in Russia, and any counteraction by the Russian government. This project's reports cite numbers of individuals killed and injured in neo-Nazi or racist attacks, incidents of xenophobic vandalism, any demonstrations by ultra-right Russian groups and other relevant issues. It also keeps track of convictions and acquittals under charges relating to racism and xenophobia, with emphasis on cases that establish hatred as a motive.

Religion in Secular Society

Monitoring and reporting on problems of freedom of conscience in Russia. Data covers the regulation of religious organizations, preferential treatment given to select religious organizations and other forms of discrimination, religion in Russian military and secular educational institutions, and protection or lack thereof from defamation and attack. Such questions often intertwine with SOVA's other two projects.

Previous projects

* Countering Hate on the Internet * Antisemitism * Democracy Under Siege * Hate Speech * New Conservatism in Russia * Resisting Radical Nationalism Many problems addressed by discontinued projects are now covered under SOVA's three current projects.

Policy and analysis

SOVA Center regularly publishes reports and recommendations that are widely used and cited by the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
and other human rights and political organizations.

Prevention of hate speech

In workshops, including under the auspices of the OSCE, SOVA Center advocates for the prevention of

hate speech Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...

on the Russian Internet"League together with SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, European University at St. Petersburg, and DEMOS Center on the situation in the Russian Internet and Possibilities for Remedying the Existing Problems"
retrieved December 1, 2008 and for the facilitation of alternate constructive dialogue by tracing hate-sites, establishing contacts with providers in order to abolish such sites, and facilitating discussions of hatred on the Internet in order to stimulate providers to block inadmissible content. SOVA Center does not claim to support eliminating hate speech in a fashion that would endanger free speech as such. SOVA Center presents seminars, such as one held October 26, 2006, organized with the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, titled "''Incitement to hatred and enmity: legal counter-measures and law enforcement.''" Approximately 50 representatives from committees of the State Duma, Federal Security Service, General Prosecutor's Office, Russian Academy of Sciences, and other organizations attended. The participants agreed that while current laws sufficiently address hate crimes, improvements were required, in particular so that current statutes would not be broadened to enable arbitrary interpretation and enforcement.

Controversies

State Duma Deputy and Judicial Committee Deputy Chairman Andrey Savelyev filed a criminal libel complaint against a number of NGOs including SOVA Center on July 13, 2007, citing use of the terms "ultra-right" and "racist" in articles on SOVA Center's website. He claimed that ascribing such qualities constituted a criminal accusation according to Russia's anti-extremism laws.Position of SOVAPosition of Savelyev
/ref> Russian authorities investigated SOVA's comments and found the complaint to be without merit.

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website (English)Reports and analytics of SOVA''Voices on Antisemitism'' Interview with Alexander Verkhovsky
from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum
Official blog of SOVA Center (in russian)
Human rights organizations based in Russia Racism in Russia Think tanks based in Russia Non-profit organizations listed in Russia as foreign agents