Russian Federation foreign minister, Sergei
Lavrov, has invited Russian NGOs to step up their activities in countries
belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

Russian
NGOs in the CIS are not fulfilling their potential according to Mr Lavrov. So
he stated on 5 March when meeting their representatives with a view to
preparing for a congress of Russians living worldwide. The Rosbalt information
agency quoted him as saying:

‘The
CIS remains our natural sphere of interest. As yet our NGOs there do not
really live up to their potential. We are not only talking about supporting
Russian language education, helping war veterans, cultural exchanges,
strengthening democratic institutions, protecting the environment or youth policy.
The most potentially fruitful approach would be for civil society actively to
promote Eurasian integration.’

http://www.asi.org.ru/asi3/rws_asi.nsf/va_WebPages/92FDD3B7E3D2C61744257B25004C8D0CRus