UK+support+for+NGOs+equals+spies+and+funding



=UK support for rights groups raises suspicion in Kremlin=


 * Nick Paton Walsh in Moscow**
 * The Guardian, London, Tuesday January 24, 2006**

Russian non-governmental organisations, yesterday expressed concern that spying allegations against British diplomats were being used to justify a crackdown against their groups in an effort by the Kremlin to stifle dissent.

Russia claims that western governments funded the NGOs which helped instigate popular revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine by organising the opposition in those countries and facilitating peaceful protest there; it does not want a repeat in Russia.

The Foreign Office insisted there was nothing improper in its support of civil society groups. But the Federal Security Bureau claimed yesterday that a media support group and a human rights group had been given grants by the British embassy of £5,719 and £23,000, and that Marc Doe, an alleged MI6 agent working at the embassy, had signed off the money.

Lyudmila Alexeyevna, 79, veteran rights campaigner and head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, said Mr Doe had not signed off the grant for her, but another diplomat had, Kathy Leech, his predecessor on development issues. "This is designed to slander the Moscow Helsinki Group", she said, adding that it was also aimed at broadly discrediting NGOs and justifying a law signed on January 10 by Vladimir Putin restricting their activities.

Moscow is particularly cautious about the unchecked growth of civil society after the events in Ukraine and Georgia. President Putin has created a Public Chamber filled with mostly loyal dignitaries to oversee press and social freedoms in Russia. This year's NGO law, giving the authorities rules under which they could choose to shut down such groups, was met with fierce criticism from the US and EU but quietly signed into law by Mr Putin.

The British incident has been used as a propaganda coup for the security services. Nikolai Zakharov, deputy spokesman for the FSB, said the posting of a spy like Mr Doe in such a position showed the "shortsightedness and cynicism of the special services. Here the work of such civil society groups is compromised because an intelligence officer is communicating with them and sending them money."

Interfax quoted the FSB as saying that the groups funded by Mr Doe were the Committee against Torture, the Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights, the Eurasia Foundation, the Moscow Helsinki Group, and Penal Reform International.


 * From: http://www.guardian.co.uk/russia/article/0,,1693503,00.html**

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