Putin: Strict controls on NGOs justified

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- Russia's president has said the discovery of an alleged British spy ring justifies a new law that tightens state control over non-governmental organizations.

Referring to the charge that one of the British diplomats accused of spying handed over British funding to Russian non-governmental organizations, Vladimir Putin said, "It has now become clear to many why Russia passed a law regulating NGO activities."

Putin, speaking to reporters Wednesday in St. Petersburg, said it was "regrettable" that foreign intelligence agencies were financing Russian organizations, The Moscow Times reported Thursday.

"I think we have a right to say that in this case the money stinks," Putin said. "Noble goals cannot be fulfilled using improper means."

Russia's Federal Security Service said Monday that grants to 12 Russian NGOs came from the British Foreign Office's Global Opportunities Fund, and not from British intelligence.

Also Wednesday, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, meeting in Strasbourg, France, declared that Russia's NGO law did not meet European norms for NGOs, Interfax reported.

The head of the Russian delegation to PACE, Konstantin Kosachyov, said he was disturbed by the declaration, which he said "discredits the assembly."