MOSCOW, January 30 (RIA Novosti) - The council of Russia's Public Chamber has called on government authorities and the media not to use the recent spy scandal to undermine the authority of non-governmental organizations, the chamber's secretary Yevgeny Velikhov said Monday.
The scandal erupted when Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had confiscated a fake rock containing electronic equipment used for espionage on January 23, and had uncovered a ring of British spies. The FSB linked the find to the financing of NGOs in the country.
President Vladimir Putin said last week that the government would continue to support non-governmental organizations despite the scandal.
NGOs with financing from other countries are thought to have played a major role in the revolutions that have swept former Soviet states in recent years, prompting some Russian politicians to voice concerns that organizations in Russia had similar motives. Parliament passed a bill restricting the operation of NGOs at the end of last year.
The West largely saw the bill as a Kremlin tactic to tighten control over foreign activity in the country and expressed concerns that it could limit democratic freedoms.
