Senior MP Says USAID Knew Russia Was Unhappy With It

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(Interfax Moscow, 20 September) As early as two years ago Russia warned the USA about its grievances over the Agency for International Development (USAID), head of the State Duma Foreign Affairs Committee Aleksey Pushkov has said.

“We warned the US side a long time ago – I think this story is already two years old – that we were not happy with some aspects of USAID’s work, in particular, political aspects,” he said at a news conference at Interfax.

According to him, the warning was about “USAID’s definite bias towards political projects, which was in conflict with our understanding of how such organizations should operate in Russia”.

Pushkov added that the USA had changed nothing in USAID’s activities. “We get the impression that a certain policy is pursued, not just civil initiatives,” the diplomat said.

Therefore, according to Pushkova, Russia’s decision to terminate USAID’s operation in Russia was not a surprise. “Such decisions are taken when they have matured,” he said.

“You know very well the emotional and psychological tension over this issue during the Russian elections. I think this became a catalyst, of course, because when the country’s prime minister and main presidential candidate says that the protest movement has received a signal from the US secretary of state, this expresses an attitude to the role played by such US organizations, which are financed from the state budget,” Pushkov said. (passage omitted)

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