To the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin
Dear Mr. President!
On April 5, 2013 in your interview to German television and radio broadcaster ARD you said: “There are 654 non-governmental organizations operating in Russia and, as it has just been discovered, financed from abroad. … During a short period of four months since the corresponding law was adopted, these organizations have received from abroad … 28 billion and 300 million rubles which makes almost one billion dollars. 855 million has been transferred through diplomatic missions. These are organizations performing political activity inside the country. Shouldn’t the society know who gets the money and what purposes it is for?”
We are convinced too, society has every right to know the size and aims of funding these organizations receive, including from abroad. For this purpose we, as well as other nonprofits, annually provide on the Ministry of Justice website open for public activity reports which contain comprehensive information about financial aid we get from abroad. The data is available to everyone.
But, considering that the sums you mentioned in the interview appear to be at least several orders of magnitude larger than our vision of actual foreign sponsorship for Russian nonprofits, we would as well like to know what organizations receive the money.
We realize that you may possibly have different information from some special sources. Considering the public interest in this issue, we earnestly ask you to order the immediate publication of a comprehensive list of the 654 nonprofit organizations, which shall contain the total funds received within the last 4 months, with reference to activity the funds have been spent on.
Signed by
1. Arseny Roginsky, Historical, Educational, Human Rights And Charitable Society ”Memorial”;
2. Natalia Taubina, “Public Verdict” Foundation (Moscow);
3. Igor Kalyapin, The Interregional Committee Against Torture (Nizhny Novgorod);
4. Yuri Jibladze, Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (Moscow);
5. Svetlana Gannushkina, Committee “Civic Assistance for Refugees and Forcibly Displaced People” (Moscow);
6. Boris Pustyntsev, Human Rights Organization “Civil Control” (Saint Petersburg);
7. Alexander Cherkasov, Human Rights Center “Memorial” (Moscow);
8. Lilya Shibanova, Association of Non-Profit Organizations in Defense of Voters’ Rights “Golos” (Moscow);
9. Sviatoslav Zabelin, International Social Ecological Union;
10. Alexei Simonov, Glasnost Defense Foundation (Moscow);
11. Victor Kogan-Yasny, “Right to Life and Human Dignity” (Moscow);
12. Natalia Zhukova, Soldiers’ Mothers Regional Committee of Nizhny Novgorod;
13. Lidia Grafova, International Public Movement “Migrants Organization Forum”;
14. Olga Smitnitskaya, Kaliningrad Regional Public Foundation “Home”;
15. Tamara Dobretsova, Kostroma Regional Public Ecological Movement «In the Name of Life»;
16. Irina Reznikova, Soldiers’ Mothers Regional Committee of Kostroma;
17. Igor Kochetkov, Russian LGBT Network (Saint Petersburg);
18. Anna Anisimova, LGBT-organization “Coming Out” (Saint Petersburg);
19. Andrey Rudomakha, Environmental Watch on North Caucasus (Maikop);
20. Alexander Verkhovsky, Center for Information and Analysis «Sova» (Moscow);
21. Olga Senova, “Friends of the Baltic” (Saint Petersburg and the region);
22. Gennadiy Mingazov, Moscow Green Cross;
23. Elena Grishina, Human Rights Information Center (Moscow);
24. Askhat Kayumov, Ecological Center “Dront” (Nizhny Novgorod);
25. Ivan Pavlov, Freedom of Information Foundation (Saint Petersburg);
26. Sergei Valkov, Ivanovo Regional Society for Human Rights;
27. Maria Kanevskaya, Human Rights Resource Centre (Saint Petersburg);
28. Viktor Voronkov, Centre for Independent Social Research (Saint Petersburg);
29. Dmitry Krayukhin, Information-analytical Human Rights Agency “CenterRus” (Orel);
30. Veronika Katkova, Regional Association “Golos” in Orlov region;
31. Mikhail Plusnin, Vyatsky Region Social NGO for Children “Veche” (Kirov);
32. Ggrigory Sverdlin, Saint-Petersburg’s Region Charitable Social Non-Government Organization “Nochlezhka”;
33. Gabdulla Isakaev, Kurgan Regional Public Movement “For Fair Elections”;
34. Galina Kuznetsova, Soldiers’ Mothers Regional Committee of Kurgan;
35. Lyudmila Bazarova, Regional Branch of “Memorial” Society (Kurgan);
36. Nikolai Rybakov, Environmental Rights Centre “Bellona” (Saint Petersburg);
37. Galina Arapova, Mass Media Defence Centre (Voronezh);
38. Alexandr Kalikh, Perm Regional Branch of “Memorial” Society;
39. Tatyana Dorutina, “League of Women Voters” (Saint Petersburg);
40. Robert Latypov, Centre for Support of Democratic Youth Initiatives (Perm);
41. Evgeniya Ivanova, “Sudarynya” (Taganrog);
42. Dmitry Dubrovskiy, “Pravo Znat” (The Right to Know) (Saint Petersburg);
43. Alexey Kozlov, Charitable Foundation for Ecological and Social Justice (Voronezh);
44. Victor Yukechev, Press Development Institute-Siberia (Novosibirsk);
45. Dmitry Makarov, Youth Human Rights Movement (Voronezh);
46. Vladimir Slivyak, “Ecozashchita!” (Eco-Protection!) (Moscow – Kaliningrad);
47. Fyodor Kronikovskiy, Taiga Environmental Group (Primorye);
48. Mikhail Savva, South Regional Resource Center (Krasnodar);
49. Aygul Sembaeva, German-Russian Exchange (Saint Petersburg);
50. Lyudmila Alpern, Centre for Assistance to Criminal Justice Reform (Moscow);
51. Irina Fufayeva, “Green World” Group (Nizhniy Novgorod);
52. Leonid Grishin, Public Migrants Organisation “Uralskiy Dom” (Urals Home) (Zarechniy, Sverdlovsk region);
53. Mariya Ostrovskaya, Charitable NGO “Perspektivy” (Perspectives) (Saint Petersburg);
54. Natalya Pevtsova, Catholic Charity Centre “Caritas St. Petersburg”;
55. Natalya Tagiltseva, Sverdlovsk Regional Non-Governmental Organisation “Nelegalov.Net” (Ekaterinburg);
56. Sergey Andreev, Altay Regional Non-Governmental Foundation for Social Support and Civic Initiatives (Barnaul);
57. Evgeny Gontmakher, Committee of Civic Initiatives (Moscow);
58. Anna Orlova, Charitable NGO “Centre for Development of Non-Profit Organizations” (Saint Petersburg).