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MP suspects foreign hand in financing Dozhd broadcasts

The Moscow Prosecutor's Office will make an inquiry into the source of financing of a TV footage of the rallies, held on Bolotnaya Square and Sakharov Prospect

MOSCOW, February 16 (Itar-Tass) —— The Moscow Prosecutor's Office will make an inquiry into the source of financing of a TV footage of the rallies, held on Bolotnaya Square and Sakharov Prospect last December, broadcasted by Dozhd (Rain) television.

Duma MP Robert Shlegel appealed to the Moscow Prosecutor's, asking to check the source of financing of the TV footage of the mass rallies on Bolotnaya Square on December 10 and on Sakharov Prospect on December 24, broadcasted by Dozhd television, spokeswoman for the Moscow Prosecutor's Office Valentina Titova told Itar-Tass.

The Zamoskvoretsk regional prosecutor has been instructed to check into the matter, the spokeswoman said.

Robert Shlegel is a representative of the United Russia party in the State Duma. He explained that he appealed to the Prosecutor's office, asking to clarify the situation in respect to a source, which financed Dozhd TV broadcasts from Sakharov Square and Bolotnaya Prospect.

"Since Dozhd had been intensively covering the activities of participants in the rally and organized an open studio for discussions the question arises whether technical equipment on the rostrum and the organization of the rally itself was tied to Dozhd television, i.e. whether "Dozhd" had been paid for the "open studio," the MP asked. "Dozhd was an informational sponsor to cover these events and it partly performed the organizing functions. The question is whether any foreign funds were involved in the organization of these events," the MP wondered.

He said that he had already given his commentaries to Dozhd staff, but cannot take part in a program scheduled live on Dozhd because of his busy work schedule.

The opposition rallies "For Honest Election" held in Moscow last December drew around 30,000 people, according to official data quoted by Moscow police. However, the organizers claim that the number of participants was many times higher. Preparations for the rallies had been made through the Internet contact websites. Thus, the funds for the rally held in Sakharov Prospect were raised by the Facebook users.

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