MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd January, 2022) The UK Foreign Office plans to funnel $17.3 million into influence campaigns in Russia through 2023 to sow discord and mold Russian policies, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Sunday.
Zakharova posted a link on social media to the Russian investigative journalism website Underside that has been publishing project concept papers allegedly leaked from the British embassy in Moscow.
"The Underside archives hold dozens of documents describing projects, listing surnames, organizations and their black bookkeeping. The budget is a mind-boggling 1.3 billion rubles ($17.3 million) set aside for 2020-2023 to finance influence programs for public organizations (that can be used to influence state bodies) and spur the transformation of Russia's course in a way that benefits the UK," she wrote on Telegram.
A case in point is project P2.031 that aims to build capacity and improve impact of what the Foreign Office describes as assembly observers in Russia. The paper notes that the rate of protests in Russia has been growing, including beyond Moscow and St. Petersburg.
"The Brits have been spending money to destabilize the domestic political situation in the country. How else can you explain the existence of grant plan P2.031 that aims to finance greater involvement in assemblies and political marches and that mentions polarization and tension in society," Zakharova wrote.
The spokeswoman said she was shocked by what the Foreign Office was up to under Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss. She suggested that British ministry should publicly "confess" its plans to influence Russia's internal affairs or pretend that the batch of leaked files was fake.
