"Just about the only local voice for protecting Baikal is facing possible shutdown at the hands of the Russian government. ...

Last year, Russia adopted a law that requires any NGO that gets funding from outside the country and also engages in political activity to register as a 'foreign agent.'  In a place like Russia, with has a long history of distrust of outsiders, can be tantamount to being branded a spy. ...

A few weeks ago a court in Irkutsk ordered a local group called Baikal Environmental Wave to register as a foreign agent because, the court ruled, the group meets those two criteria — they get money from outside the country and they engage in political activity. The group says it won't do that."

Peter Thomson (author of "Sacred Sea: A Journey to Lake Baikal") reports for PRI's The World November 7, 2013. [2]