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Actual number of NGOs - "foreign agents" is larger - prosecutor

They are avoiding the registration of this status, according to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

ST PETERSBURG, July 10 (Itar-Tass) - Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika said the actual number of non-governmental organizations - "foreign agents" by far exceeds that of exposed "agents."

"It is necessary to point out that in actual fact, the number of organizations performing the function of foreign agents is much larger. They are avoiding the registration of this status," Chaika said at a visiting session of the Federation Council on Wednesday. Prosecutors failed to locate and check 43 NGOs which the Rosfinmonitoring fiscal monitoring watchdog said had received funds from foreign countries.

Such NGOs exploit oversights in Russian legislation. "The NGOs, such as Memorial or Golos, created a ramified structure comprising 64 independent legal entities. They receive money through Russian intermediaries," the prosecutor general explained, adding that they cannot be automatically acknowledged as foreign agents because they do not draw foreign funds directly.

Another method to avoid the status of "foreign agents" is "receiving foreign funding by a natural person," he said.