A lawyer accused of treason, an attorney accused of organising the activities of an undesirable foreign organisation?

Attorney Roman Kachanov and human rights activist Larisa Zakharova were charged under Part 3 of Article 2841 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation — organising the activities of a foreign or international organisation that has been declared undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation in accordance with Russian legislation. Lawyer Alexei Sokolov has been charged with high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).

There are currently 290 such organisations.

As reported in the media, "they allegedly engaged in human rights activities using money received from grants from organisations recognised as undesirable in the Russian Federation."

Based on the above and the remark quoted in the media: "There is a prisoner whom Sokolov helped to litigate. They pretended that this convict was allegedly disabled. In reality, he is healthy and can stand on his own two feet. Sokolov reported this case to the Norwegian fund recognized as undesirable," — the agency’s interlocutor noted. Such actions do not fall under the qualification of Article 275 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, since the person is required to perform actions, the result of which (transfer of information, other assistance) a foreign addressee can use in activities directed against the security of Russia. Nor do they fall under Part 3 of Article 2841 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, because the provision of assistance paid for by third parties (in this case, foreign parties) without, for example, developing the documents necessary for the organisation’s activities, recruiting personnel, distributing functions among them, establishing and registering a representative office (the latter is impossible due to the organisation’s undesirability in Russia), etc., does not fall under the concept of "organising activities".