Russian rights group to close over 'foreign agent' listing, comes up with plan to keep working

Igor Kalyapin, head of Russia's Committee Against Torture gestures during a press conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, July 28, 2015. A prominent Russian human rights group says it is closing down its operations because of a repressive law but says it has come up with an elaborate scheme to continue its work. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin) (The Associated Press)

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FILE - In this photo taken on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, children look into a damaged car, outside an apartment building, where a human rights group office is situated, in Grozny, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Masked men bashed their way into the office of the Committee against Torture in the regional Chechen capital of Grozny on Wednesday, smashing furniture and sending the occupants fleeing through the windows, their colleagues said. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, file). (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this photo taken on Wednesday, June 3, 2015, women leave an apartment building, where a human rights group office is situated, in Grozny, Russia, Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Masked men broke into the office of the Committee against Torture in the regional Chechen capital of Grozny on Wednesday, smashing furniture and sending the occupants fleeing through the windows, their colleagues said. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, file). (The Associated Press)

MOSCOW – A prominent Russian human rights group says it is closing down its operations because of a repressive law, but has come up with a plan to continue its work.

Russian law requires non-governmental organizations that receive funding from abroad to register as "foreign agents."

Igor Kolyapin, head of the Committee against Torture, told reporters Tuesday that the organization will be "liquidated" this week after the Justice Ministry listed the group as a "foreign agent."

Kolyapin said they have set up a new head office that won't accept foreign funding, thus being able to dodge the listing.

His associates have also founded six other NGOs, which will receive foreign funding, to carry out the actual work. The six groups won't publicize their work, also hoping to avoid the "foreign agent" listing.