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| Vladimir Putin in Moscow. (Reuters) |
Moscow, July 20 (Reuters): President Vladimir Putin said today foreigners were meddling in Russian politics by funding campaign groups, echoing similar complaints from some authoritarian leaders in ex-Soviet states.
Putin told a group of human rights experts and academics he had reliable information cash was being channelled from abroad through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to finance political activity, though he gave no details.
“I am categorically against the foreign financing of (NGOs’) political activities in Russia... We understand that he who pays the piper calls the tune,” he told the Kremlin meeting.
“Not a single self-respecting country will allow that, and neither shall we ... Let us solve our internal problems ourselves.”
Dozens of foreign groups like the Open Society Institute, funded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, have been active in former Soviet states since the fall of communism in 1991, promoting democracy, transparency and human rights.
But they ran into trouble in several conservative ex-Soviet republics in the past two years after officials accused NGOs of funding the popular revolutions that installed pro-western leaders in Georgia and Ukraine.
Soros’s group says official pressure forced it to cease activities in Belarus, described by Washington as a dictatorship, and it has also effectively quit authoritarian Uzbekistan, again blaming obstruction by officials.
Putin, who has been guiding through political reforms widely seen as aimed at consolidating the Kremlin’s grip on power, has criticised NGOs in the past.
In his annual state of the nation address in May, he blasted NGOs for using foreign funds to “serve dubious group and commercial interests.”
But today was the first time he accused NGOs of meddling in politics.
“(We have) very specific information about money being channelled from abroad for specific political activities in Russia” he said.
However, Putin said that any financing NGOs were getting from abroad was paltry.
“If we look at the grants our organisations of this sort receive, including from abroad, it’s peanuts,” he said.
He offered Kremlin funding for NGOs.
“We are ready, I, personally, am ready to do this,” said the Russian leader.
“The only thing I am concerned about is that there shouldn’t be any concerns from your side that this is some kind of bribery ... , that this is some form of dependency,” he said.