How foreign NGOs destroy Russia
01.07.2015 18:11
Recently, the Federation Council suggested introducing a "stop-list" for foreign NGOs in Russia that either implement political tasks to the benefit of foreign states or finance Russian NGOs for the same purpose.
The issue of "political NGOs" has become relevant again lately. It was about the story of Dynasty Foundation, which the Russian Justice Ministry labeled as a "foreign agent". In addition, President Putin made a speech in the Public Chamber, where he spoke about political NGOs, separating them from the part of the "third sector" that deals with social problems.
Let's take a look at well-known political NGOs. Many of them do not work in Russia officially anymore. However, there are organizations that still work on the territory of the Russian Federation, such as The Council for International Research and Exchanges, or IREX.
The organization was created in 1968 to oversee exchange issues between the United States, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union within the scope of educational, scientific and socio-political programs. IREX really can hardly be called a "non-profit organization. Officially, the organization is registered as an independent foundation. In fact, the lion's share of its annual financial turnover - about $60 million - consists of funding from the USAID and the Office for Culture and Education of the US State Department.
In some countries of the former Soviet Union - Belarus, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan - the work of this NGO has been officially banned "for anti-state and anti-government activities." In Russia, IREX focuses on journalists and media. A recent report from the organization about mass media in Russia is very eloquent: "We see an example of Kremlin's total control of national television stations and the press."
On this occasion, IREX has a "training of journalists" program in Russia, so that they write "correct news" and provide information the "right way."
Generally, IREX targets humanitarian personnel in the countries with "emerging democracies." That is, in fact, the organization is preparing platforms for color revolutions, to establish US-loyal political regimes.
American Councils for International Education is another similar organization, funded by the US State Department. The fund was established in the first half of the 1970s, specifically to manage research and educational programs in Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
In 2006, a US citizen of 27 years of age, James Matthew Dirmon, decided to improve his knowledge of the Russian language. American Councils for International Education sent him to the city of Vladimir. During his entire stay in Russia, Dirmon was collecting specific information, for example, about Russia's migration legislation. He studied and analyzed the appearance of interethnic conflicts in Russia and corruption in the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation.
The young man did not receive specific instructions of what he was actually doing. He went straight to the Migration Service in Vladimir and asked for a report on migration in the past five years. As a result, Dirmon was invited for an interview, where he said a lot about his work with American Councils, about the ties of the organization with diplomats and politicians in Russia and the former Soviet Union and about the interest of the organization in Russia's Far East and Siberia.
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