Putin: Russian authorities concerned by NGOs’ their financing from abroad

Russia’s authorities are concerned not about the work of NGOs in Russia, but about their financing from abroad, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said on Monday. “I have expressed concerns, related not to the work of those NGOs, but with their massive financing from abroad,” the president said adding a day earlier he discussed the matter during a meeting with Angela Merkel. “All our actions are connected not with closing of those organisations, not with a ban, but with control over the financial flows,” Putin said stressing they are used for financing of those NGOs’ political activities in the country. The president said over four months, the organisations of the kind had received 28 billion 300 million roubles. “This causes many questions,” he said. “NGOs’ freedoms are not limited in any way, they simply need to be registered,” Putin said.