Russia Demands U.S. End Pro-Democracy Work

The Kremlin has taken a number of actions in recent months to bring pressure on nongovernmental groups and clamp down on political dissent, including a new law requiring any organization receiving aid from abroad to register with the justice manager as “acting as a foreign agent.” Russia also hiked the penalties for libel and slander — a step that seemed intended to intimidate critics of government officials.

State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, suggested that if Russia did not want American assistance, the money could be better spent elsewhere. “It’s their sovereign decision to make,” she said. “There are many countries around the world who would like to have more AID funding and help.”

Among the groups supported by the money from Washington is Golos, Russia’s only independent election monitoring group, which last winter enlisted thousands of young Russians as poll-station monitors and posted reports of vote-rigging on its Web site.

Grigory A. Melkonyants, the deputy director of Golos, said it would take at least a year to find alternate financing to replace the American grants, if it was even possible. “They see us as the source of criticism, and they are trying to halt that source,” Mr. Melkonyants said. “Many people are already scared to talk about the problems that exist today. The press is already frightened. Now they are trying to shut up civil organizations.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/world/europe/russia-demands-us-end-pro-democracy-work.html\\