Vladimir Putin: almost a billion dollars have been deposited into NPO accounts in four months

In an interview with the German broadcaster ARD, ahead of his visit to Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about inspections of foreign non-governmental organizations.

The President of Russia said that there are only two Russian NGOs operating in Europe and the United States, while in Russia there are 654 of them. And you need to know for what funds these structures work.

“Only in four months after we adopted the relevant law, the accounts of these organizations from abroad received... Can you imagine how much money came in? You can’t imagine. And I didn’t know. 28 billion 300 million rubles, that’s almost a billion dollars. 855 million rubles - through diplomatic missions, these are organizations that are engaged in domestic political activities. Well, shouldn’t our society know who gets the money and for what?

At the same time, I want to emphasize, I want you to know this and for people in Europe, including Germany, to know: no one is banning the activities of these organizations. We simply ask them to say: yes, we are engaged in political activities, but we are funded from abroad. Society has the right to this. And there is no need to scare anyone that someone is being grabbed, arrested, confiscated here. Although, maybe it was worth confiscating if people break the law?” Vladimir Putin said in an interview with the ARD television and radio company.

He explained that no one prohibits the work of NGOs in Russia. In addition, he noted that a similar law is in force in the United States, but there NPOs are checked not by the prosecutor’s office, but by counterintelligence.

Let us recall that on November 21, 2012, a law came into force that obliges NPOs with foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.” Previously, such organizations as MHG, Memorial, Golos, Civic Assistance and For Human Rights announced a boycott of the law.