TODAY: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty on ‘undesirable’ list, science foundation may be shut down under ‘foreign agent’ law; prison labourers may work on World Cup build; Merkel ally refused entry to Russia; Novorossia project on hold; Russia begins surprise military training; Pussy Riot take whipping complaint to ECHR; a baptism by trolls for Kirill.

Some of the first organisations that the Kremlin has  declared ‘undesirable’ are Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which means that it will be able to use the new law to shut down their operations and prevent any of their literature from being disseminated in Russia.  The ‘foreign agent’ law may also shut down Russia’s prominent science and education support foundation, Dinastia.  A new draft bill in the Duma, put forward by a United Russia party member, would allow companies to ship prison labourers hundreds of kilometers, install them in ‘colony-settlements’ and employ them to build infrastructure for the 2018 World Cup.  Aside from the obvious cost benefits, lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein says it will be ‘very positive’ to get prisoners into work.  Germany protested to Russia after a conservative lawmaker and ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel was refused entry to the country, possibly for calling Russia a ‘warmonger’.