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Changing name doesn’t change reputation, says Lavrov on Soros Foundation rebranding

When answering the question on how Russia assessed the strengthening of Western NGOs in traditionally friendly countries, Sergey Lavrov pointed out that each state, "be it Russia, Kazakhstan or any other country, independently determines the level to which it is willing to promote civil society contacts"

MOSCOW, April 11. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that he hadn’t heard anything about the rebranding of the Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan (SFK), part of Open Society Foundations, founded and chaired by US businessman George Soros, but pointed out that the foundation had a stable reputation, which did not depend on a name change.

"As far as this particular foundation is concerned, I haven’t heard anything about any kind of rebranding. And in general, frankly speaking, Open Society Foundations belonging to George Soros, regardless of the name, already have a certain reputation. I think everyone knows that very well," the top Russian diplomat said at a press conference following talks with his Kazakh counterpart Murat Nurtleu.

When answering the question on how Russia assessed the strengthening of Western NGOs in traditionally friendly countries, Lavrov pointed out that each state, "be it Russia, Kazakhstan or any other country, independently determines the level to which it is willing to promote civil society contacts." "And I have no doubt that all serious and respectable states and governments will not tolerate violations of their own laws and attempts to interfere in their domestic affairs in any way," the top Russian diplomat noted.

The Kazakh Informburo media outlet earlier reported that the SFK, sieged in Almaty, would be reformed into the CAPS (Central Asian Policy Studies) Unlock think tank. According to the media outlet, the center will be tasked with "developing the best possible approaches to solving regional problems". The center would supposedly research and organize discussions on the issues of socio-economic inequality, digital democracy, education, climate change, geopolitics and the consequences of the historical trajectory of Central Asian countries.

The Soros Foundation-Kazakhstan’s website says that it is part of Open Society Foundations (deemed undesirable in Russia).

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