MOSCOW. April 11 (Interfax) - Information from Russian special services about the involvement of some foreign non-governmental organizations and movements in terrorism and extremism have been confirmed by court rulings, a source with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said.
"Information obtained by the FSB proves that certain NGOs play a significant role in spreading the ideas of separatism and religious extremism in our country. This information was confirmed by court rulings to close these organizations and to ban their activity in Russia," the source said.
The Russian Supreme Court banned the activity of 17 organizations in Russia following the February 14, 2003 and June 2, 2006 decisions, the source said.
The list includes such organizations as: Supreme Military Majlisul Shura of the United Forces of Caucasian Mojahedeens, The Congress of Peoples of Ichkeria and Dagestan, Al-Qaeda, Asbat al-Ansar, Al-Jihad, Al-Gamaa al-Islamiyya, Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jamaat-e-Islami, The Taliban movement, Turkistan Islamic Party, Jamiat Al-Islah Al-Ijtimai, Jamiat Ihya at-Turaz al-Islami, Al-Haramayn Islamic Foundation, Islamic Jihad and Jund Ash Sham.
The source also said a Russian NGO - the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship - was closed for propaganda of extremism and ethnic hatred in Nizhny Novgorod.
Executive director of the society Stanislav Dmitriyevsky was handed out a two year suspended sentence in 2006 on charges of fomenting ethnic hatred.
The source also said that the Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship is now registered in a European Union member state.
"FSB interacts with law enforcement agencies of foreign countries in the sphere of exchanging information about organizations and people that are linked to international terrorist activity. The public will continue to be informed on judicial decisions of violating the Russian legislation by representatives of NGO organizations," the source said.
Checks into the involvement of charity foundations into terrorist activity became more thorough in the United States following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York. The U.S. froze accounts of various charity foundations worth $136 million in 2004 alone.