UK Conservative Party-Linked Campaign Group ‘Not Happy’ With Russian Media

A major right-wing pressure group in the UK with close links to the British Conservative Party expressed discontent with Russian media due to its alleged ties with the Russian Government.

EDINBURGH (Sputnik), Mark Hirst – A major right-wing pressure group in the UK with close links to the British Conservative Party told Sputnik it will not respond to enquiries from Russian media organizations, because it is "not happy" with their links to the Russian Government.

"I"m afraid from an organisational perspective we don't right now, for reasons I am sure you will appreciate, we don't deal with [Russian media] to offer reactive quotes or commentary," Andy Silvester, Campaign Director with the TaxPayers Alliance (TPA) told Sputnik.

"Without going into too many details, frankly we are not happy with the Russian media due to its connections with the Russian Government," Silvester added.

Silvester added that his company sees the possibility of working with Russian media in the future and has nothing against neither the companies nor their employees, but currently they are "not happy doing anything with the Russian media."

The TPA promotes itself as a "grassroots campaign" that claims to "increase accountability across Government", but does not itself publish details of individuals and businesses who fund its activity. But one major business group known to fund the Conservative Party, the Midlands Industrial Council, confirmed it had also given TPA tens of thousands of pounds in donations.

Russian media has come under attacks from a number of organizations. Last month, Swedish Internet provider Bahnhof refused to allow a Russian state television company to shoot a science program at a Bahnhof owned site, saying that it was "part of the Russian state machine" used for "aggressive propaganda".