May 3, 2007 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Russian legislators have accused the United States of using nongovernmental organizations to interfere in the country’s domestic affairs.
The State Duma, or lower house of parliament, has unanimously passed a resolution condemning what it said were “unprecedented attempts” by the United States to manipulate the forthcoming elections for the legislature and the presidency.
“Under the guise of helping to conduct free and fair elections, U.S. taxpayers’ money is being used to fund numerous training courses, surveys, seminars, and other events that distort the situation,” states the resolution.
The resolution further called for an investigation into the awarding of foreign grants to nonprofit groups that use the money for political purposes.
The resolution is seen primarily as a reaction to the U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights. The document criticizes Russia for the continued strengthening of executive power, corruption, ethnic intolerance, harassment of some nonprofit organizations, and a new law that imposes strict financial controls on all charitable groups.
However, most nonprofit groups of late have been engaged in little other than accounting to comply with the new law, which empowers the Federal Registration Service to shut down organizations whose activities run counter to national, social, or cultural interests. The law may be interpreted broadly, as the definition of what constitutes a violation is vague.
At least one American group has faced another kind of problem with the authorities. Last month it suspended its activities after investigators from the Interior Ministry raided its offices in Moscow. Representatives of the Educated Media Foundation — part of Internews, which trains journalists — could not say when they might resume work, because the investigators had confiscated their computers as well as thousands of documents.
It is proper for foreigners to finance nonprofit groups that provide humanitarian assistance, but not those that influence the political situation, Pavel Krasheninnikov, chairman of the Duma legislation committee, said.
Other Duma deputies, backed by senators from the Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, have proposed answering the United States in kind: by financing nonprofit groups that protect civil liberties and promote democracy in the United States.
