Moscow ? The Kremlin has begun cracking down on private groups that advocate human rights and democracy, the latest move in a government campaign that already has tamed political opposition, stifled business dissent and all but eliminated independent news media.

At least five so-called non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, including a prominent charity, say their futures are being jeopardized by a recent spate of government lawsuits, orders freezing bank accounts and other legal conflicts.

The actions come as NGO leaders await the April 18 start of a law that requires private organizations to report funding they receive from outside Russia and to send government representatives copies of invitations to their organized events.

The new law also will allow government officials to disband a group whose goals aren’t in line with “the national interest.”

The new law “allows unlimited interference of the state into private affairs,” said Lev Levinson, a legal expert for the Institute of Human Rights in Moscow, one of the organizations that will come under the jurisdiction of the new law. “Russia is gaining more and more signs of a police state.”