Russia bans amnesty international, which vows to redouble work on rights abuses

* Summary * Companies * Russia says Amnesty promotes 'Russophobic projects' * Russians face prison if found working for designated groups * Amnesty says move is part of an effort

to silence dissent * Group vows to redouble work on Russian human rights abuses MOSCOW, May 19 (Reuters) - Russia banned Amnesty International on Monday by classing it as an

"undesirable organisation" for backing Ukraine against Russia, drawing a rebuke from the group which said it would redouble efforts to expose Russian human rights abuses. Founded

in 1961 and headquartered in London, Amnesty International campaigns for human rights across the world, including on behalf of those it designates prisoners of conscience. Russia's

prosecutor general said that Amnesty International Limited's London office was a "centre for the preparation of global Russophobic projects", and accused it of advocating on

behalf of Ukraine, with which Russia is at war. The Russian prosecutor said Amnesty International had done "everything possible to intensify the military confrontation in the

region" while justifying the alleged crimes of Ukraine and seeking the isolation of Russia. "You must be doing something right if the Kremlin bans you," Amnesty International

Secretary General Agnès Callamard said in a statement. "This decision is part of the Russian government's broader effort to silence dissent and isolate civil society."

"We will redouble our efforts to expose Russia's egregious human rights violations both at home and abroad," Callamard said. "Amnesty will never give up or back down in

its fight for upholding human rights in Russia and beyond." Russia regularly designates organisations it says undermine its national security as "undesirable". The designation

mandates penalties of up to five years in prison for Russian citizens working with or funding designated groups. Organisations previously banned as undesirable include U.S.

government-funded broadcaster Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and international environmental organisation Greenpeace. Amnesty said that the Russian law under which the designation was made

itself violates international law, and said the move came three years after Moscow blocked access to Amnesty International's websites in Russia and effectively closed down its office in

Moscow. Russia says its laws have legal primacy. Russia says that Western human rights groups give biased and factually inaccurate assessments of Russia, ignore abuses in the West, and are

essentially pawns in a wider Western information war being waged against Moscow. Rights groups say such accusations are absurd and that the hopes for liberty which accompanied the 1991 fall

of the Soviet Union have been smashed under Russian President Vladimir Putin, who rose to power in 1999. Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow and Felix Light in Tbilisi; editing by Aidan

Lewis Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. * Suggested Topics: * World * Human Rights As Moscow bureau chief, Guy runs coverage of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent

States. Before Moscow, Guy ran Brexit coverage as London bureau chief (2012-2022). On the night of Brexit, his team delivered one of Reuters historic wins - reporting news of Brexit first

to the world and the financial markets. Guy graduated from the London School of Economics and started his career as an intern at Bloomberg. He has spent over 14 years covering the former

Soviet Union. He speaks fluent Russian.