by Lady Michelle-Jennifer Santos, Founder & Publisher
September 19, 2012 (TSR-Xinhua) – Russia confirmed Wednesday that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) will leave the country from October 1, accusing the US of using its aid agency in Moscow covertly influencing the country’s politics and elections and destabilize Russian unity.
Considered as first major move against foreign funded NGOs since the Duma passed amendments to its NGO law and now signed by President Vladimir Putin, the Russian government has ordered the American agency to cease all operations in the country effective by October 1.
amid an unprecedented opposition movement against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Russian authorities have become increasingly suspicious of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which they believe are using foreign funding to foment political unrest. USAID funds a number of pro-democracy and human rights groups that have provoked the Kremlin’s wrath.
Earlier this year, President Vladimir Putin alleged that protests surrounding his re-election were orchestrated by US-funded NGOs via cash transfers from the US State Department. US “aid”, and indeed any Western “aid” always comes at a hefty price which is not only not worth paying but is part of a plan to subvert and destabilise Russia, and so the “aid” shouldn’t be touched with a barge pole. It’s always undertaken with the aim of stirring up anti-Putin sentiment.
In an uncharacteristically blunt statement, the Russian foreign ministry said that the decision to shut USAid was taken primarily because the agency’s work “does not always correspond to [its] stated goals”.
“This means attempts to exert influence, via the distribution of grants, upon political processes, including elections of various levels and institutions of civil society,” it said.
Putin has accused the US state department of orchestrating the mass protests that have swept Moscow since he announced his intention to run for the presidency again late last year. A main target of his ire has been Golos, an independent election monitoring group that receives the bulk of its funding from USAid and was key in exposing electoral fraud in a December parliamentary vote that helped bring tens of thousands of protesters on to the streets.
The foreign ministry also expressed its displeasure with the agency’s work in the troubled North Caucasus, a region still wracked by the remnants of a violent Islamist insurgency. “USAid’s activity in the Russian regions, especially the North Caucasus, prompted serious questions, which we warned our American colleagues about repeatedly,” the statement said.
USAid has been operating in Russia since the Soviet Union’s collapse, funding groups that have received little or no government support, including medical NGOs devoted to fighting HIV/Aids and tuberculosis and various environmental groups. Yet the bulk of its funding goes to civil society groups focused on building up democracy and human rights in the country, including Golos, human rights NGO Memorial and corruption watchdog Transparency International.
Putin has repeatedly criticised groups that receive foreign funding and has accused opposition protesters of acting on orders from Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state. The Russian parliament passed a law this summer obliging NGOs that receive foreign grants to publicly brand themselves “foreign agents”, a term reminiscent of the spy terminology used during the cold war.
Grigory Melkonyants, the deputy director of Golos, said it was “practically impossible” to get funding from within Russia. “Supporting human rights – be it for prisoners, or election monitoring, or anything – is a very sharp question for our current leadership. Business doesn’t want to risk putting money into this,” he said.
Putin has taken great pains to convince the wider Russian population that any criticism of his government is a foreign plot. Russian officials and media have also accused the US of being behind the Arab spring uprisings, including in Egypt, where USAid came under pressure in the wake of Egypt’s uprising against former president Hosni Mubarak.
The move against USAid was announced by the state department on Tuesday and official state media in Russia remained silent on the issue on Wednesday. An official inside the Obama administration vowed that the US would find ways to continue to fund civil society groups, potentially paving the way for a long stand-off.
The Russian government brought immense pressure against the British Council in the wake of the murder of dissident Alexander Litvinenko in London in late 2006 in a tussle that lasted for more than a year.
The foreign ministry also said its decision to shut USAid was prompted by the “maturity” of its civil society. “Russian civil society has become entirely mature and does not need ‘external leadership’,” it said.
Government critics said the move was the latest attempt to put pressure on the opposition. In the past few months, charges have been brought against more than a dozen protesters as well as opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Opposition MP Gennady Gudkov was stripped of his mandate last week. A series of laws that increase fines for protesting and slander have been passed, as well as a bill that critics fear will tighten the government’s control over the internet.
The Russian Central Bank has meanwhile announced on its website that any financial assistance received by Russian NGOs will be investigated as potential money laundering or financing that might be mean to fund terrorists, the daily Kommersant reported.
Banks that receive funding transfers for Russian NGOs from abroad will henceforth be requited to report the transfers to the Russian Federal Financial Monitoring service.
“This decision (to shut down USAID) is made due to attempts of the agency to influence political processes, civil society institutions, and elections at various levels, through distribution of grants,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told reporters here.
“Serious questions arose from USAID activities in Russian regions, especially in the North Caucasus,” he said.
Moscow has warned Washington several times that such activities did not in line with aims of bilateral humanitarian cooperation, the spokesman added.
However, Lukashevich also noted that Russia would like to cooperate with USAID in the third country over humanitarian aid projects.
“But such cooperation should adhere to principles of equality, respects of each other’s interests and non-interference in domestic affairs,” he stressed.
USAID is America’s primary official foreign aid agency. The agency opened its office in Moscow in 1992, with some 60 Russians and 13 U.S. citizens working for it currently.
In July, the Russian State Duma, or the lower house of parliament, passed a law that substantially restricted activities of non-government organizations in Russia.
During the APEC summit in early September, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov informed the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Moscow would ask USAID to leave Russia shortly.
The U.S. State Department said Tuesday that it would shut down USAID mission in Russia following the Moscow decision.
USA calls decision ‘regrettable’
The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday that Moscow’s decision to end the USAID activities in Russia was “regrettable”.
“It is regrettable that Russia has taken this decision,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters at a regular briefing.
Russia confirmed Wednesday that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the primary U.S. official aid agency, will leave the country as of Oct. 1. Moscow accused the agency of trying to influence Russia’s domestic political affairs.
“This decision (to shut down USAID) is made due to attempts of the agency to influence political processes, civil society institutions, and elections at various levels, through distribution of grants,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Wednesday.
Lukashevich cited “serious questions” that arose from USAID activities in Russia, “especially in the North Caucasus.”
At the Wednesday briefing, Nuland dismissed such allegation.
“We completely reject the notion that our support for civil society, democracy, human rights in any way interferes with elections,” she said.
Nuland’s remarks marked a change of tone with her previous statement. During a briefing on Tuesday, when asked if she was disappointed by Russia’s decision, Nuland said: “Obviously, this is a sovereign decision that any country makes.”
USAID, founded in 1961, is America’s primary government agency responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. The agency opened its office in Moscow in 1992, with some 60 Russians and 13 U.S. citizens working for it currently.
During the APEC summit early this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov informed the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Moscow would ask USAID to leave the country shortly.
According to Nuland’s remarks on Tuesday, the USAID has spent about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars in total in Russia since the end of the former Soviet Union and the agency’s budget for Russia in fiscal year 2012 is about 50 million dollars.
