Translated material
Unreliable USAID
Russian democracy does not need help
Back to the "unloading". The closure of the Russian representative office of the US agency for International Development (USAID) will inevitably lead to the adoption by the American Congress of the "Magnitsky Law". “Now this is practically inevitable,” said the New Times, a high -ranking source in the Barack Obama administration. He also called the approximate dates-the so-called session of the Lame-Duck Session, that is, between the presidential election on November 6 and January 3, 2013, when the first session of the Congress of the new convocation begins according to tradition
The first alarming call sounded for the Americans on September 9 at the APEC Vladivostok summit: the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confidentially informed the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the USAID, which provides financial support to the Russian NGOs, can be folded in the near future - the corresponding note is being prepared in the bowels of his department.
How they kicked out ...
Clinton was surprised. She asked for delays - it is difficult to suddenly stop the agency’s work: the total annual volume of USAID grants in Russia is $ 58 million. Lavrov left the answer, but it was clear: the decision in Moscow was already made, including in terms of deadlines. Specifically, they were indicated on September 12: US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFol received an official note demanding to curtail the USAID activities from October 1.
On September 18, Washington announced the closure of USAID programs in Russia in connection with the requirement of Moscow. After that, a strange commentary of the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov appeared in the spirit that if the agency did not violate Russian laws, then the Kremlin does not need to expel him: look for the reason for the diplomatic scandal of the Americans themselves.
On September 19, the official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Alexander Lukashevich, actually disavoizes Peskov’s remarks: USAID "tried to influence political processes in the Russian Federation," and therefore the agency’s activities should be discontinued. " “We are talking about attempts to influence the distribution of grants to political processes, including elections of various levels, and civil society institutions,” the diplomat said. And the 20th of Lukashevich’s lips was another clarification: Moscow notified American colleagues about the need to stop working USAID in June. However, the source of The New Times in the US administration assures: for the State Department and the White House, the Demars of Moscow was a complete surprise.
“The American side is regretted about this decision,” said Michael McFol in a conversation with The New Times, the US Ambassador to Russia. - For exactly twenty years, USAID has been a successful partner of both government and non -governmental Russian organizations. We pursued common goals. " The actions of the Russian authorities and Hillary Clinton, who sent a return note to Sergey Lavrov, commented on about the same way, with a request to give USAID more time to turn off numerous programs and allowed to finalize at least until May 2013. But our Foreign Ministry, apparently, was too tired of the rebooting of Russian-American relations, was inexorable: October 1, and the point. 
…for what
In Russia, USAID was engaged in healthcare projects (the fight against AIDS and tuberculosis) and education, sponsored programs for working with orphanages and adoption, support for small businesses and independent media. It is curious that among the recipients of USAID grants is the Prochrevsky movement “Young Guard”. True, when in January of this year the Communist Party revealed this fact, the “newlywords” hastened to declare that their cooperation with the agency was reduced to “exchange of experience”. Nevertheless, on September 21, the fact of financial assistance to USAID has already received an official confirmation of Washington in Russia: for many years, the United Russia party participated in the fund’s programs, said the State Department Victoria Nuland. United Russians themselves deny any connections with USAID: “Unproven and emotional reaction dictated by ordinary resentment” was called the words of Victoria Nuland Department of Secretary General of the General Council of YP Alexei Chesnakov. Boris Nemtsov intervened in the skirmish, saying that he had documentary evidence that the party of government held forums and round tables for American money, sent party members to various trainings and conferences. "
The Obama administration until the last pressed on the Congress, trying to link the adoption of the Magnitsky List with the abolition of discriminatory for Russia to amend the Jackson-Vennik. It was impossible to come up with anything better than closing the USAID office in order to even more angry Republicans and deprive the administration of the last arguments
“American sources of The New Times admit that the help of orphanages and drug addicts was not as annoyed by the Kremlin as grants issued by NGOs, such as the Association of Non -Profit Streetings“ Voice ” - it was she who ensured the operation of the interactive“ violation map ”in the latest parliamentary and presidential elections * * The same voting card prepared for regional elections 14 October.
** National Endowment for democracy is a non -profit organization founded in 1983 in order to develop democracy with the help of grants allocated by NPOs in different countries. The main source of financing is the US budget. MacArthur Foundation is one of the largest private American non -profit funds issuing grants in the field of science and education, as well as the protection of human rights. The annual budget of the fund is about $ 230 million, and other similar NGOs. Moreover, after the decision on the USAID solution, the problems began in other American organizations in Russia - the National Endowment for Democracy and the MacArthur Foundation (MacArthur Foundation), although it is not yet about their closure ** .
... and why wait now
The exile of USAID from Russia can undermine all the progress in bilateral relations, achieved thanks to the "reboot". Most likely, in the Kremlin, making this decision, proceeded from the fact that the Congress of the “Magnitsky Law” adoption cannot be avoided, which means it is time to launch “symmetrical measures”. However, the Obama administration, in a conversation, emphasized the Washington source of The New Times, to the last crushed to the Congress, trying to link the adoption of the Magnitsky list with the abolition of discriminatory for Russia to amend Jackson-Vannik, in order to somehow sweeten the pill and not finally put the cross on the “rebooting”. “It was impossible to come up with anything better than closing the USAID office in order to even more angry the Republicans and deprive the administration of the last arguments,” the source noted. -Now the “Magnitsky Law” will be accepted, and the amendment of the Jackson-Vennik will most likely remain in force ” * * September 20 for the unified pan-European concept of sanctions in relation to officials in the case of Sergey Magnitsky, the Committee on International Affairs of the European Parliament voted almost unanimously ..
Talking about the new Cold War is still premature, but, according to the Washington interlocutor of The New Times, the relations of Russia - the United States returned to the level of four years ago, when the newly elected presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama took the first steps to “reboot”. “There are two layers of problems in our relations: disagreements in Syria and what the Kremlin calls the intervention in the country's domestic life,” explained The New Times in Washington. At the same time, economic interests are so intertwined that it will not be easy to freeze our relationship completely. ” Moreover, Moscow is still interested in the influx of Western, including American investments.
Thus, the American official in diplomatic terms outlined the old tactics of the Kremlin in communicating with the West: "Let's go, but do not interfere in internal affairs." Whether such a policy is able to bring real dividends - the question remains open.
USAID - US Agency for International Development (AMR USA)
An independent agency of the US Federal Government, organized by John Kennedy in 1961, USAID is funded by the US government, about 1% of the American budget is allocated to its programs annually. The main directions of USAID are the development of agriculture, support for economic growth, health care, democracy, as well as emergency humanitarian assistance and protection of human rights in more than 100 countries.
Jackson -Vennik's amendment to the law on trade
prohibits the provision of the most favorable regime. Was introduced in 1974 in response to the actions of the USSR, which impeded the emigration of its citizens. Since 1989, the US Congress annually extends the amendments against Russia.
The decision to stop the USAID once again shows that Moscow is trying to fence off with a new iron curtain from the West, blocking the air not only to us, but also to the mass of other NPOs. We have been working with USAID since 2002, they have financed many of our projects, especially those that concerned the election. For Russia, this is generally a rarity, most of the funds in priority puts charity, and politics remains in the background.
Of course, we felt that they were getting to us. Our parliamentarians did not hide the fact that the NCO law was written specifically under the “voice”, so it could be expected that sooner or later it would be difficult to sooner or later.
Yes, for us it will be a big problem. We need to contain a huge regional network - 22 regions, 3.5 thousand correspondents. In each region in the elections, we spend about $ 3-4 thousand, that is, 22 regions - 70–80 thousand. These are transport, trainers for observers - both from the “voice” and third -party, renting premises for these purposes. It is not easy to find such money, embassy grants, for example, are limited by a budget of 20-30 thousand. I think we will look for funds in Russia: this will be a new work scheme for us, we tried not to participate in political games, to be independent. This opportunity was given to us by international money, because any local businessmen are one way or another attached to some parties or political projects. But we have no options: we are not going to close.
The Russian media immediately scored the alarm about a single voting day on October 14, but I can reassure them: not a single interactive program will be rolled up, especially since Internet projects are not the most costly. The “Map of Violations” will function, and we will try to get out so as not to turn the monitoring in the field.
In general, I must say that the “voice” set the right direction to Russian civil society. Organizations such as “Citizen of the Voter”, “Kudrin Foundation to support civilian initiatives” appeared in the country - they all work according to our schemes and even often with our employees. You can’t stop this shaft, and this is the main merit of USAID.