The one challenge we have with Russia and civil society is that when we talk about the Arctic we've seen very definitive steps by Putin to limit civil society. The one act we all are aware of is that Putin moved very strongly against their indigenous organization, RAIPON, delisting them in November of 2012. They subsequently were re-listed, but there have been reports that the Russian government is now trying to place their officials on their board of governance and other civil society movements within the north. What this seems to suggest overall is that the ability to draw the distinction between civil society within Russia and the Russian government is decreasing.
On December 9th, 2014. See this statement in context.