|
from yahoo.
| quote: | MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian human rights groups said on Friday Kremlin allegations that they are funded by British spies revived painful memories of Soviet-era smear campaigns.
ADVERTISEMENT
In a joint statement, they said the charges by the FSB state security service were utterly false. One activist whose group was named as having accepted money from British agents threatened to sue state television for airing the allegations.
According to the TV program, aired on Sunday, British spies communicated with agents via a fake rock, housing sophisticated technology, and channeled funds to Russian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for unknown nefarious purposes.
"We deeply regret that such statements are possible today, 15 years after the fall of the Soviet regime in our country," said the statement, signed by 85 rights activists from dozens of organizations, including some singled out in the program.
"This has reminded many people of the system of denunciation and slander in the shamefully well-known years of mass repression in the USSR."
The allegations came days after the final approval of tough new legal curbs on NGOs, that will allow security and tax organs more oversight while restricting financing from abroad.
President Vladimir Putin, who signed the new curbs into law on January 10, has said the spying scandal has justified the new legislation on NGOs that FSB officials say could be fronts for subversive action.
Putin, himself a former KGB agent, says he has not yet decided whether to expel four British Embassy employees named in the affair and officials are yet to propose taking action against the named NGOs.
Many observers have said the scandal, which Britain has expressed surprise over, was tailored by Russian authorities to silence Western critics of the law.
"It does not surprise me that the FSB should invent such an insinuation. I have a very low opinion of this organization and have previously suggested that they could do this," said Ludmila Alexeyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, which was specifically accused of taking money from British spies.
"But it is upsetting and shameful that this provocative act could have been conducted by the hands of journalists," she told Ekho Moskvy radio.
She said activists from a number of organizations would meet on Monday to discuss a joint approach, but said she was already considering legal action.
"There are very well known and highly qualified lawyers that are prepared to conduct this legal process, if we decide to appeal to court," she said. |
|
