MOSCOW, June 21. /TASS/. The office of Russia’s prosecutor general has made a decision to recognize the activity of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), an international NGO, as undesirable on Russian soil, the agency’s press service told journalists on Wednesday.
"Following the results of a probe conducted by the office of the Russian prosecutor general, a decision was made to recognize the World Wild Fund for Nature (World Wildlife Fund, WWF, Switzerland) international non-governmental organization as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation," its statement said.
It notes that in fact, the so-called environmental activity which purportedly raises eco-awareness under the guidance of UK national N. Isdell, is being used by the WWF as a cover for the implementation of projects which create security threats for Russia’s economy.
It stressed that "under the pretext of preserving the environment, the WWF is involved in activities that aim to hinder the implementation of the country’s political course on the industrial cultivation of the Arctic and natural resources on subarctic territories, the development and legalization of the restrictions capable of serving as grounds to move the Northern Sea Route toward the US Exclusive Economic Zone."
"The WWF’s initiatives target large enterprises in the fields of energy, the oil and gas industry as well as those developing the deposits of minerals and precious metals. With regard to these enterprises, some of which implement national programs, the WWF formed a network of subordinate environmental non-commercial organizations to collect information about the environmental situation in Russian regions in the context of operations of large industrial complexes and prepare ‘independent,’ biased assessments aiming to hinder Russia’s economic development," the office of the prosecutor general said. The WWF formed a ranking system for the environmental liability of Russian companies in various spheres as well as branch-specific rankings of the accessibility of environmental information, such as related to the oil and gas, energy-generating, mining and metallurgic sectors. "That said, these rankings are shaped with a bias in accordance with the subjective standards and criteria developed by the WWF which determines on its own which enterprises are worthy of receiving ‘green status.’ The organization provided financial and technical aid to the Russian non-commercial organizations included in the registry of foreign agents (Friends of the Baltic, Sakhalin Environment Watch and others) whose members were held administratively liable for committing infractions such as participating in unauthorized mass protests, which constitutes meddling in the Russian Federation’s domestic affairs," the agency pointed out.