MFA in Kaliningrad supports German NGOs
Kaliningrad, 02.06.2016
The Russian Foreign Ministry has criticised the behaviour of parts of the Kaliningrad media who have published controversial statements regarding audits of NGOs operating in the Kaliningrad region.
The Foreign Ministry’s Mission in Kaliningrad said that a section of the regional media had issued “insulting and false” information in connection with some NGO audits. “In particular, a number of sources “having analysed” this year’s visit of a German military attaché to Kaliningrad to take part in the city’s Victory Day parade of honour came to the conclusion that those German diplomats present were really spies and accused the “German-Russian House” Association of being a German organisation. This kind of spy hysteria is totally at odds with Russia’s stance on bi-lateral Russo-German relations”, said a statement on the Mission’s website.
Earlier, the Ministry of Justice had forcibly included the autonomous NGO “The Hanse Bureau/Information Office of Schleswig-Holstein in Kaliningrad” on the “foreign agents” register. The “German-Russian House” Association’s Cultural and Educational Centre had also been involved in an unsuccessful court case against the Justice Ministry in Kaliningrad in April 2015. The organisation had demanded that the results of an unannounced audit conducted last year which convinced the Ministry that the German-Russian House was engaged in “political activity” while receiving funds from abroad should be declared invalid.
The Foreign Ministry’s Kaliningrad Mission explained that a number of provocative reports on NGO audits had also appeared in the media. “We believe that these “bold” and “patriotic” statements are just an exercise in cheap public relations and that such utterances run completely counter to the Russian Federation’s policy of friendship and cooperation with Germany and only provide an excuse for further unjustified “revelations” by Kaliningrad residents, who, it seems, are not shy of so doing”, said the Foreign Ministry’s Mission in Kaliningrad.
Author: Georgy Ivanushkin
