RUSSIAN GONGOS AND NGOS
Submitted by christian on Fri, 10/07/2016 - 15:42
Government-organised NGOs (GONGOS)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- Aeroflot- Russian Airlines Public Joint Stock Company
- Alfa Group Consortium
- Alfa-Bank Banking Group
- All-Russia State Television and Broadcasting Company
- All-Russian Insurance Association
- All-Russian public organization Mediasoyuz
- Channel One Russia
- Charity Foundation for the Preservation of the Spiritual Heritage of St Sergius of Radonezh
- Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO
- Committee for Constitutional Law of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Fed.
- Committee on Culture of the State Duma of the Federal Council of the Russian Federation
- Committee on the CIS’s Affairs, Eurasian Integration and Ties with Compatriots of the State Duma
- Composite
- Council for Foreign and Defense Policy
- Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation
- Department for Affairs of Compatriots Abroad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
- Department for Humanitarian Cooperation of Rossotrudnichestvo
- Department on Work with Compatriots Abroad, Russian Foreign Ministry
- Eurasian Natural Resources Co
- Expert Center of St.Petersburg University
- Faculty of World Politics of Lomonosov Moscow State University
- Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media (Rospechat)
- Federation Council of Russia
- Foreign Affairs Committee of the Federation Council
- Forum ‘Dialogue of Civilization’
- Foundation for International Cooperation
- Gazprominvestholding
- Guild of Russian Lawyers
- Historical Perspective Foundation
- IDC
- Interfax Information Agency
- International Academy of Television and Radio
- International Affairs Committee of the Federation Council
- International Association of Teachers of Russian Language and Literature
- International Federation for Peace and Conciliation
- International Mineral Resources
- International Union of Lawyers
- ITAR-TASS Russian News Agency
- Kommersant Publishing Houses
- LetterOne Group
- Lukoil
- Mail.ru
- Mechel mining and steel group
- Metalloinvest Holding
- Ministry of Culture
- Ministry of Education and Science
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation
- Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
- Moscow Art Theatre of Anton Chekhov
- Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations
- Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO)
- Moscow Union of Journalists
- Nafta Moscva
- National Association of TV and Radio Broadcasters of Russia
- O.E. Kutafina Moscow State Law Academy
- Onexim Group
- Paralympic Committee of the Russian Federation
- Polyus God
- Presidential Administration for Interregional and Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries
- Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation and Press Secretary of the President of Russia
- Presidential Press and Information Office
- Primakov Institute of World Economy and Int’l Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences (MEMO)
- Public Television of Russia
- Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language
- RBK-TV
- RIAC
- Rossetti Public Joint Stock Company
- Rossiyskaya Gazeta Newspaper
- Rostec Corporation
- Rosttelekom
- Rusal
- Russia in Global Politics Magazine
- Russian Academy of Sciences
- Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
- Russian Nanotechnologies Corporation
- Russian Press Institute
- Russian Public Council on International Cooperation and Public Diplomacy
- Russian Railways
- Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
- Russian-Polish Public Forum
- Sberbank of Russia
- Sglasie
- Sheremetyevo Airport
- Sistema
- Sitronics
- St Petersburg State University
- State Corporation ‘Fund of Assistance for reforming housing and Communal Services
- State Duma of the Russian Federation
- State Hermitage Museum
- Transneft, JSC
- United Russia Party
- Vadrdanyan, Broitman and Partners LLC
- Women of Russia
- World Association of Russian Press (WARP)
- World Democracy Fund
Russian Think Tanks
- 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.
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.’
- 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
- The largest recipient of grants is the Legal Information Centre for Human Rights in Estonia
- 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.
- The Baltnews news portal that was launched in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, is funded by Russia via enterprises in European countries.
- 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.
- The Impressum NGO,organises various events and was created by media professionals from Komsomolskaya Pravda v Severnoi Evrope and Komsomolskaya Pravda.
- 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.
- 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.
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