Short answers, pulled from the story.
The SOVA Center for Information and Analysis is a Moscow-based nongovernmental organization and think tank that conducts sociological research on nationalism, racism, anti-extremism law abuse, and religious freedom in post-Soviet Russia. It was founded in October 2002 by members of the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Russian research center Panorama. Its director is Alexander Verkhovsky.
Russia's Ministry of Justice added the SOVA Center to its foreign agents list in December 2016. The designation reflected the organization's receipt of funding from Western think tanks.
The Moscow City Court ordered SOVA to close in April 2023, citing the claim that the organization carried out activities throughout Russia while only being registered in Moscow. The closure came during a broader crackdown on human rights and independent organizations following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
SOVA currently operates three projects: Misuse of Anti-Extremism Legislation, Racism and Xenophobia, and Religion in Secular Society. Earlier projects including Antisemitism, Countering Hate on the Internet, and Resisting Radical Nationalism have been discontinued, with their subject matter absorbed into the three active projects.
SOVA's reports are cited by the OSCE, Amnesty International, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, among other human rights and political organizations. Western media including The New York Times and The Guardian have also cited its work.
On the 13th of July 2007, State Duma Deputy Andrey Savelyev filed a criminal libel complaint against SOVA and other NGOs, claiming that using the terms "ultra-right" and "racist" on the website constituted a criminal accusation under Russia's anti-extremism laws. Russian authorities investigated and found the complaint to be without merit.