The British ambassador to Moscow yesterday rebutted Kremlin allegations of improper conduct in dealing with non-governmental organisations and promised Russian charities and human rights groups the UK's government's continued support.
"I am writing to assure all of our current and former recipients of grants that there is nothing unlawful or in anyway improper about our support to NGOs in Russia," Anthony Brenton wrote to a number of NGOs.
The letter from the UK ambassador is the strongest response to date to the accusations made by the Russian federal security service that some Russian NGOs, including the Moscow Helsinki Group, are financed by the British intelligence service.
Over the past week, state-controlled Russian television has been promoting a link between alleged British spies and non-governmental organisations in Russia. Vladimir Putin, Russian president and a former KGB spy, said it was "regrettable" that some Russian NGOs were "financed through intelligence channels".
The spying allegations are seen in Moscow as a justification for a new law signed by Mr Putin earlier this month which imposes severe restrictions on Russian NGOs and their ability to receive foreign funding.
In a letter seen by the Financial Times, Mr Brenton yesterday wrote: "The suggestion that British government support to NGOs is anything but honest and open is wholly untrue." He said all the UK's support for the development of a healthy civil society in Russia was given openly. It was the intention of the British government to continue to support non-profit organisations in Russia.
The accusation against four British diplomats allegedly running a high-tech spying operation involving a rock with a hidden transmitter and financing Russian NGOs were first aired on Russian television on January 22. Russian human right groups said the media allegations were planted by the FSB to discredit human rights groups and charities.
The allegation was repeated last Sunday by a state-controlled NTV channel, which also tried to implicate Mr Brenton in a spy scandal. Sergei Popov, a member of the Russian parliament who helped to draft the new NGO law, said one of the alleged British spies accompanied Mr Brenton when he came to argue against the law. "It is indeed strange that a professional intelligence officer goes around with the ambassador on matters related to the NGO law, defending, as it were, the position of European society," he said.
However, even the Russian public chamber - a new body created by the Kremlin - yesterday said it was concerned by allegations about the connection between Russian NGOs and foreign intelligence services. "The council of the public chamber appeals to the authorities and the media to restrain [itself] from using the [spying] scandal for undermining Russian non-governmental organisations," it said.
