MOSCOW, (Reuters) – A court ordered Wednesday the closing of Russia’s Memorial Human Rights Centre. It was established one day after its sister organisation, the oldest group in Russia for human rights, had been ordered by the Supreme Court to dissolve.

The state prosecutor had charged both organizations with violating the law that requires them to act “foreign agent”. Both claimed the charges were motivated by political motives.

International rights groups as well as the U.S. State Department strongly condemn Tuesday’s verdict against Memorial International. It is a decision that caps a year of unimaginable crackdown on Russian dissent.

It was the end of a year during which Alexei Navalny — the Kremlin’s chief critic — was arrested, his movement banning, and many of his associates forced to flee. Moscow insists it is only enforcing laws in order to deter extremism, and protect the country from foreign interference.

Critics believe that Vladimir Putin has turned the page to the Soviet period when there was no tolerance of dissidents, being in power since 1999 as either president or prime minister. The Kremlin is at war with the West over everything, from Ukraine to Syria.

Memorial, which was founded in the latter years of Soviet Union, initially examined the Stalinist crimes but later expanded to look into contemporary abuses.

This upset authorities, who often accused the group from siding with extremists.