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| - Open Russia, an opposition group founded by self-exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky said Thursday it was closing to shield its members from prosecution. The announcement comes as Russian authorities are ramping up pressure on dissent ahead of parliamentary election in September. Open Russia was designated an "undesirable" organisation in Russia in 2017 in line with a law targeting foreign groups accused of political meddling. Under amendments to the law currently being debated in parliament, members of "undesirable" organisations risk prison. On Thursday, prominent activist Andrei Pivovarov, who served as Open Russia's executive director, said the group had made the decision to disband. "We are closing our regional offices," Pivovarov said. "This is linked to the law that is being adopted against us." He said he would keep fighting for political change in "a personal capacity". Pivovarov helped spearhead a campaign against President Vladimir Putin's controversial changes to the constitution that were adopted last year and allow him to stay in power until 2036. Kremlin critics accuse Putin of steadily ramping up pressure on critics during his two decades in power, sidelining the opposition and tightening control on everything from the main television channels to parliament. The new pressure on Kremlin opponents marks a new chapter in the authorities' crackdown on dissent, political observers say. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the closure of Open Russia did not mean Russian authorities were pressuring opponents. "Someone's departure does not mean a political clean-up," Peskov told reporters. Putin's leading domestic opponent, Alexei Navalny, is now in prison, serving two-and-a-half years in a penal colony on old fraud charges he says are politically motivated, and authorities are gearing up to outlaw his political network. In March, Russian police arrested around 200 opposition politicians and municipal deputies including Pivovarov at a Moscow conference dedicated to running for municipal office. Khodorkovsky, who owned the oil giant Yukos before he was convicted in two controversial cases and spent a decade behind bars, now lives abroad. as/acl/jv
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