The Moscow office of rights group Amnesty International
has been sealed off by municipal officials so staff cannot get
inside, a member of staff told Reuters on Wednesday.
The staff member, Alexander Artemyev, said that official seals
had been placed on the entrances to the office, the locks had been
changed and that power to the office had been cut off. He said no
prior warning was given.
A representative of the Moscow state property department, from
which Amnesty rents the office, said they had no immediate
comment.
Rights groups that receive foreign funding and are critical of
the Kremlin have come under pressure from the authorities in the
past few years. Some have been designated as "foreign agents" which
makes them subject to intense scrutiny from officials.