Putin to relax law targeting foreign NGOs President Vladimir Putin has said a law branding some NGOs working in Russia as "foreign agents" should be changed. At the moment NGOs receiving funding from abroad and deemed to be involved in political activity have to register as "foreign agents." Putin admitted some groups had been unfairly targeted but said any NGOs seen to be political and receiving money from abroad would still have to register. Russian authorities have carried out inspections of hundreds of NGOs under the law signed by Putin last year. The term "foreign agents" was used by the communist Soviet Union in the Cold War. Critics say the law has been an attempt to silence dissent. More about: Human Rights, Moscow, Russia, Vladimir Putin