RUSSIAN GONGOS AND NGOS

Government-organised NGOs (GONGOS)

1. Russkiy Mir Foundation : Promotion of the Russian language and culture. The foundation is a joint project of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science, and is supported by both public and private funds.The foundation runs hundreds of Russian centres around the world (34 in the EU and some extra research centres at universities. Budget Estimate €5.2 million) and  about 2%–3% of this sum comes from private donations.
2. Rossotrudnichestvo (The Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation. Created in 2008 by then President Dmitry Medvedev, as a means to advance Russia’s political and economic interests. Budget € 24 million (2013) to increase  to €113.8 million by 2020. Activities vary from international development assistance and public diplomacy to promotion of the Russian language throughout the world.
3. The Foundation for Supporting and Protecting the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad sometimes translated as the Fund to Support and Protect the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad or the Foundation for Defence of the Rights of Compatriots Abroad. Established on 25 May 2011. The foundation was established as a mechanism for defending the legitimate interests of compatriots and neutralising attempts to discriminate against them, primarily in the Baltic states. The foundation is funded by the federal budget,voluntary contributions and donations’, and other sources. Estimated budget  around €9.1 million. The foundation has carried out and continues to contribute to 273 projects in 42 countries (as of October 2015) and has set up 24 Centres for the Legal Support of Compatriots in 18 countries.
4. The Gorchakov Fund . Set up in 2010 by President Dmitry Medvedev as an instrument for carrying out the objectives of the Russian International Affairs Council. Founder was the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the budget of the organisation comes from the federal budget, from voluntary contributions and donations, and from other sources in accordance with Russian legislation. The foundation was set up to defend Russia’s interests and as an additional platform for cooperation between civil society and the authorities in order to finance those NGOs involved in international research that do not receive financial support for undisclosed reasons. The foundation organises various conferences, including the Baltic Dialogue, the Russian–German Forum on Cultural Diplomacy, and the Dialogue in the Name of the Future for representatives from the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Baltic countries.
5. The WARP Foundation for Cooperation with Russian-Language Media Abroad  which has the official English name of the World Russian Press Foundation, was established by the Government Commission on the Affairs of Compatriots Abroad in 2014. The purpose of the WARP Foundation is the development of cooperation with the Russian foreign press abroad aimed at the formation of an objective image of Russia. Some projects of the WARP Foundation are implemented under the World Association of Russian Press (WARP). The latter was established on 24 June 1999 by the First World Congress of Russian Press on [the] initiative of the Russian Telegraphic News Agency (ITAR-TASS). The Foundation is a ‘supportive tool of WARP Association’. While the Association’s aim is to create a unified global Russian-speaking space, the Foundation focuses more on cooperation with the Russian foreign press abroad. The congress has met every year since then. Both organisations share the same website. The statutes of the foundation do not state who the founders are. According to the website of the foundation, the income of the organisation comes from receipts from the founders, donations, revenues and dividends. Among the activities of the foundation are: 

•  the development of a unified world Russian (Russian-speaking) information space;
• facilitation of the organization of the journalistic community for free and objective reporting of events in Russia and abroad, the life of compatriots and all native speakers of Russian; and
• assistance, including financial and technological, to the Russian foreign media, public organizations and associations of compatriots abroad’.

The WARP Foundation is located in Moscow. However, the WARP Association has seven seats around the world including two in the EU: one in Riga, Latvia, and one in Prague, the Czech Republic.

Representatives on the Boards of Russian GONGOS and Links

1. Aeroflot- Russian Airlines Public Joint Stock Company
2. Alfa Group Consortium
3. Alfa-Bank Banking Group
4. All-Russia State Television and Broadcasting Company
5. All-Russian Insurance Association
6. All-Russian public organization Mediasoyuz
7. Channel One Russia
8. Charity Foundation for the Preservation of the Spiritual Heritage of St Sergius of Radonezh
9. Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO
10. Committee for Constitutional Law of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Fed.
11. Committee on Culture of the State Duma of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation
12. Committee on the CIS’s Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots of the State Duma
13. Composite
14. Council for Foreign and Defense Policy
15. Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
16. Department for Affairs of Compatriots Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
17. Department for Humanitarian Cooperation of Rossotrudnichestvo
18. Department on Work with Compatriots Abroad, Russian Foreign Ministry
19. Eurasian Natural Resources Co
20. Expert Center of  St.Petersburg University
21. Faculty of World Politics of Lomonosov Moscow State University
22. Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media (Rospechat)
23. Federation Council of Russia
24. Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council
25. Forum ‘Dialogue of Civilization’
26. Foundation for International Cooperation
27. Gazprominvestholding
28. Guild of Russian Lawyers
29. Historical Perspective Foundation
30. IDC
31. Interfax Information Agency
32. International Academy of Television and Radio
33. International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council
34. International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature
35. International Federation for Peace and Conciliation
36. International Mineral Resources
37. International Union of Lawyers
38. ITAR-TASS Russian News Agency
39. Kommersant Publishing Houses
40. LetterOne Group
41. Lukoil
42. Mail.ru
43. Mechel mining and steel group
44. Metalloinvest Holding
45. Ministry of Culture
46. Ministry of Education and Science
47. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
48. Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
49. Moscow Art Theatre of Anton Chekhov
50. Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations
51. Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)
52. Moscow Union of Journalists
53. Nafta Moscva
54. National Association of TV and Radio Broadcasters of Russia
55. O.E. Kutafina Moscow State Law Academy
56. Onexim Group
57. Paralympic Committee of the Russian Federation
58. Polyus God
59. Presidential Administration for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries
60. Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and Press Secretary of the President of Russia
61. Presidential Press and Information Office
62. Primakov Institute of World Economy and Int’l Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MEMO)
63. Public Television of Russia
64. Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language
65. RBK-TV
66. RIAC
67. Rossetti Public Joint Stock Company
68. Rossiyskaya Gazeta Newspaper
69. Rostec Corporation
70. Rosttelekom
71. Rusal
72. Russia in Global Politics Magazine
73. Russian Academy of Sciences
74. Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
75. Russian Nanotechnologies Corporation
76. Russian Press Institute
77. Russian Public Council on International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy
78. Russian Railways
79. Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
80. Russian-Polish Public Forum
81. Sberbank of Russia
82. Sglasie
83. Sheremetyevo Airport
84. Sistema
85. Sitronics
86. St Petersburg State University
87. State Corporation ‘Fund of Assistance for reforming housing and Communal Services
88. State Duma of the Russian Federation
89. State Hermitage Museum
90. Transneft, JSC
91. United Russia Party
92. Vadrdanyan, Broitman and Partners LLC
93. Women of Russia
94. World Association of Russian Press (WARP)
95. World Democracy Fund

Russian Think Tanks

1. Valdai Discussion Club: Established in 2004 by the agency RIA Novosti and the Moscow-based, state-supported think tank Council on Foreign and Defence Policy. In 2011 the non-profit Foundation for Development and Support of the Valdai Discussion Club was established by the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, RIAC, the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and the National Research University—Higher School of Economics. In 2014 the foundation assumed all activities of the Valdai Club. The main activity of the foundation is its annual conference, which attracts many well-known speakers. Between the conferences the club is quite active on social networks and also organises smaller conferences, and publishes papers and reports. The annual Valdai Forum attracts many European politicians.
2. Russian International Affairs Council RIAC: Non-profit academic and diplomatic think tank that was established by a presidential decree of President Medvedev. It was founded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education and Science in 2010. RIAC’s mission is the organisation of cooperation between Russian scientific institutions and foreign analytical centres. The think tank produces research on foreign relations issues that are the top priorities for Russian foreign policy.  RIAC’s budget is estimated at €1.2 million per year, with another  €12,000 being provided by each corporate member.
3. Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RIIS): Formed in 1992, it gained a more prominent position in 2009 when President Medvedev signed Presidential Decree no. 478, which changed the status of RISS to that of a federal scientific institution financed by the federal budget with the president of Russia as its founder. RISS is formally a state organisation. The main task of RISS is to provide information support to the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council, the State Duma and the Security Council as well as to Government offices, ministries and departments. The Russian president has a decisive role in determining the nature of the state-ordered research carried out by RISS, and monitors the flow and internal distribution of budgetary funds. RISS has 180 employees. The budget of the organisation is not made public. The institute has six centres, one of them being the Centre for the Baltic and Commonwealth of Independent States’ Countries. It has two offices in the EU, one in Paris,and one in Warsaw.

Unofficial Russian organisations

1. Institute of Democracy and Cooperation (Institut de le démocratie et de la coopération). Founded  2008 in Paris (until 2015 it also had a branch in New York). This think tank wants to be part of the debate about the relationship between state sovereignty and human rights; about East–West relations and the place of Russia in Europe; about the interpretation of human rights and the way they are applied in different countries; and about the way in which historical memory is used in contemporary politics. The institute was established by the Russian government. It also endeavors to improve Russia’s image in the West. The IDC is financed by the Historical Perspective Foundation, which is partially funded by presidential grants.
2. Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute (Dialog der Zivilisationen) is a new think tank that was opened in Berlin in June 2016. The institute appears to be an extension of an existing institute, Dialog der Zivilisationen in German, which operates from Vienna. The Berlin Institute’s avowed goal is an ambitious one, to coordinate a network of Russian think tanks worldwide. Affiliates of the think tank include international figures, including the former Czech president Klaus. The Institute receives no governmental grants or subsidies and all activities are financed from the proceeds of their Endowment, membership fees and sponsorship.’
3. Eurasian Observatory for Democracy and Election: Organisation modelled on the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE ODIHR) whose role is to monitor elections. The website of the EODE says that it is an NGO under French law, founded in 2006 in Brussels and ‘Kishinev’ (Chisinau) that is working in the areas of election monitoring, the audit of state and political systems and research and analysis. The organisation has offices in Brussels, Paris, Moscow, Sochi and Chisinau.

NGOs and think tanks in the Baltic countries

1. The largest recipient of grants is the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights in Estonia
2. The organisation Altmedia runs a website (baltija.eu) that features ‘alternative news’, and is funded via Media Capital Holding BV, a company registered in the Netherlands and controlled by people linked to the state-owned media company Rossiya Segodnya.
3. The Baltnews news portal that was launched in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, is funded by Russia via enterprises in European countries.
4. The magazine Baltiiski Mir (Baltic World), which targets Russian speakers in the Baltic countries, is linked to MTU Integratsioonimeedia (Integration Media Group) and funded by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
5. The Impressum NGO,organises various events and was created by media professionals from Komsomolskaya Pravda v Severnoi Evrope and Komsomolskaya Pravda.
6. In Lithuania, the Kremlin sponsors the Independent Centre for Human Rights and the Centre for Defence and Research of Fundamental Rights, which are connected to Lithuania Without Nazism, another organisation funded by Russian compatriot GONGOs.
7. In Latvia, at least seven organisations have received grants from Russian compatriot GONGOs, which together amount to more than €680,000. The biggest portion of this sum (over €240,000) was received by the Latvian Human Rights Committee, which was founded by Latvian Member of the European Parliament Tatjana Zhdanoka (Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance). In Belgium, Zhdanoka established an organisation called 'Pour Le Future Sans Fascisme', has received €25,000 from the Foundation for Supporting and Protecting the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad; this money has since been disseminated among pro-Russian Latvian NGOs. Another important pro-Russian figure in Latvia is Aleksandr Gaponenko who represents several NGOs, one of them being the European Research Institute.