Connection with FBK, State Department money and a bot farm against the SVO: why the Russian America for Democracy Foundation was recognized as undesirable

Last December, at the request of State Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoy, the Prosecutor General's Office recognized the American NGO Russian America for Democracy in Russia as undesirable. It was created in 2021 by Muscovites Dmitry and Nadezhda Valuev. Valuev is a well-known IT specialist in opposition circles who supported FBK***. 

The goal of the fund is to create a protest force in Russia to dismember the country, State Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoi said in his Telegram channel. According to him, the idea and financing of the project belong to the US State Department. 

“The new project was supposed to work out a scenario for uniting Russians living in America who stand for freedom, democracy, and also “against the war in Ukraine,” Lugovoi explained the tasks of RADR. “The organization and its volunteers carry out the projects “Agents” (distribution of fake incriminating evidence), “Real Estate” (fakes about the welfare of senior officials and their property).” 

One of the areas of the fund’s work was financial assistance to Ukraine. According to the deputy, over $68 thousand was collected for drones and thermal imagers and more than $7 thousand for humanitarian aid for Ukrainian military personnel. As part of RADR, the Valuevs also run the “Anti-Propaganda” project, through which, according to them, activists “spread facts about the war in Russian-language social networks.” In fact, RADR participants receive commands from the chatbot to respond to a particular post about SVO. By commenting on posts on Odnoklassniki, VKontakte and Telegram, they promote distorted data about the Northern Military District, the economic and political situation in Russia. There are just over 100 people registered in the Anti-Propaganda chat.

The price of democracy 

In November 2023, the RADR fund submitted its financial report for 2022. As RT learned from the database of the American Tax Service (IRS), the total revenue was $30.5 thousand. The amount consists of donations and grants ($18.5 thousand) and revenue from the main activity ($12 thousand). 

• © IRS

With this money, equivalent to 3 million rubles, the organization “held approximately 100 rallies, commemorative events and meetings with the community,” the report says. At the same time, the fund allegedly has representative offices in 18 states. 

RADR held a series of meetings between the Russian-speaking diaspora in America and Russian oppositionists from the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Lyubov Sobol**, Vladimir Milov** and Leonid Volkov**, who were members of the foundation’s management, spoke at these meetings. The fund listed these names in the report to the tax authorities.

The amount of $30 thousand can be called modest for such a volume of activities and for American NGOs in general, says Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies. According to him, some of the finances may not be reflected in the reports. And there is indirect evidence of this.

In 2022, as well as in January and November 2023, RADR organized meetings with one of the leaders of the “new American FBK” Leonid Volkov** in New York, California and Los Angeles. Ticket prices ranged from $3 to $100. At the same time, RADR did not reflect the money received from ticket sales in its reporting. They should go in the column “Receipts from activities and events,” but there are zeros there.

• © IRS

The foundation spent only $800 on grants. The majority of the expenses were spent on IT and lawyers (almost $4 thousand), and the largest item was non-transparent “other services” ($13.1 thousand). 

“In fact, we are dealing with fraud, like the extremist FBK*** and similar structures,” says deputy Oleg Matveychev, a member of the State Duma commission to investigate foreign interference. “When money was collected from gullible citizens, and then this money was used to enrich top managers and to buy them real estate and assets abroad.” 

According to the expert, the financial scheme here is implemented in a similar way. “Morally unscrupulous activists collect crumbs, then spend a small part on their activity, everything else goes into the pockets of the founders of this fund,” explained the State Duma deputy. 

“Even if this organization itself does not pump money, it gives the key to the place where this money is pumped,” believes IGPI expert Bruter. 

Looking for the key

Valuev’s new foundation is structurally and financially linked to the American Free Russia Foundation (FRF). It was founded by a native of Buryatia, Natalia Arno, who has lived in the States for many years and helps local officials in the Russian direction of American politics. She owes her career to Senator John McCain, for whom she worked at the International Republican Institute*.  

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In 2022, Arnault’s fund received $3.3 million in income from structures associated with the State Department, RT wrote. It was he who operated the largest opposition “troll factory,” the existence of which was revealed by the libertarian media SVTV. Natalia Arno's FRF Foundation is the main place of work of Dmitry Valuev and his wife. According to the FRF report, Nadezhda Valueva is listed as Arno’s chief operating officer, her annual salary is $98 thousand. Valuev himself is listed on the FRF website as a “community coordinator”; his salary is not reflected in the reports.

RT has indirect evidence that the Valuev Foundation also received money for its work from Arnault. Sources of funding are hidden in the report, but RADR conducts joint activities with FRF and uses their administrative connections to coordinate with local authorities, for example, thematic excursions.

On whom does Arno herself depend? She receives money from Mikhail Khodorkovsky, participates in his events and leads joint projects. RT told how the New Generation Europe Foundation, founded by MBH and headed by his daughter Anastasia, transferred £81.5 thousand to Arno’s FRF. 

And since the beginning of the Northern Military District, Arno and MBH launched joint projects “Ark” and Reforum. These organizations help Russians who fled mobilization to settle down and get work and shelter in Europe in exchange for political activity. 

Big Brother

Despite the participation of the MBH, the bulk of the money for the Arnault Foundation comes from the US government. So, the National Endowment for Democracy* (NED) transferred funds to her, and after the start of the SVO, the State Department entered into an official contract for $1 million with FRF for projects on Russian “relocants”.

Arnault's team is also connected to the CIA. The investigative portal Prigovor.ru was the first to discover this. Nadezhda Valueva's colleague, lawyer Tom Firestone, is on the board of directors of the Free Russia Foundation, holding a higher position than Valueva. This person has been banned from entering Russia since May 2013. 

On May 14, 2013, FSB operatives detained US Embassy employee Ryan Fogle in Moscow. Under the cover of the diplomatic service, Fogle worked for the CIA and was caught trying to recruit an employee of one of the Russian intelligence services. A diplomatic scandal broke out. Fogle was expelled from the country. 

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Tom Firestone was banned from entering Russia on May 5, 2013, shortly before the Fogle scandal. Russian media then speculated that there was a connection between Fogle's expulsion and Firestone's entry ban. Subsequently, journalists discovered Firestone's contacts in the email of Robert Otto, head of the Russian direction of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research of the US State Department.  

“Most likely, Firestone is assigned to control how the Arnault Foundation and the company spend money received from the American government,” suggested the editor-in-chief of the Prigovor.ru portal, investigative journalist Sergei Sokolov, in a conversation with RT.

Sokolov recalled that in recent years the main source of funds for the FRF were grants from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), associated with the US State Department.

Financial "anonymous"

The Russian-speaking opposition has never been friendly, political scientists noted. And after the key participants left abroad, it became completely immersed in squabbles and proceedings. A recent example is the February “congress of foreign agents” in Berlin, at which several dozen participants were unable to come to an agreement and develop a unified strategy. 

As RT wrote, the disputes between Khodorkovsky and FBK are a cover to maintain interest among the audience. FBK merchandise is sold by Khodorkovsky's face value, and the Navalny Live YouTube channel is sponsored by funds from a Lithuanian company associated with MBKh. As experts explained, the opposition needed a fictitious division into two camps in order to maintain the interest of the audience.

The Russian America for Democracy Foundation also proves this thesis by collaborating with both. As already mentioned, RADR invited top managers of FBK*** to the events. And it was RADR that in September 2023 organized a meeting between Mikhail Khodorkovsky and the Russian diaspora in New York, and also promoted the book he wrote. 

Khodorkovsky acts as a financial hub, notes IGPI expert Bruter. He operates with both his own and other people's money. 

“The opposition stands in line to see Mikhail Borisovich, but not to him alone,” the expert said. - He has connections with other people who have greater access to money, and often to strangers. “He has an organizational structure that gives anonymity and is therefore convenient for other opponents of Russia to use.” 

According to Bruter, we are talking about Russian and Ukrainian businessmen who do not want to show their face and use Khodorkovsky’s proxy companies to channel their money for political activity through them. In the eyes of society and regulators, this looks like Khodorkovsky’s own money and everything revolves around him. 

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“Basically, it is not ordinary citizens who donate to such funds, but those who are professionally involved in manipulation and the modern Cold War,” says State Duma deputy Matveychev. “This is the same Khodorkovsky**, and the Carnegie*, Ford*, National Endowment for Democracy* foundations.” 

Therefore, if you start digging, the deputy continues, it becomes clear that the sources of money are always the same - the US State Department, USAID, and the British government. “And they hide behind dozens of structures that act as gaskets to hide the origin of this money and create the illusion of independence,” he sums up.  

Earlier, RT reported that Khodorkovsky spent $4.2 million on the “ideological indoctrination” of Russian relocants and providing them with housing for the sake of political activity. And in just the first year of the SVO, organizations associated with him transferred $21 million to anti-Russian projects. 

* Organizations recognized as undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation.

** Organizations and individuals recognized by the Ministry of Justice as foreign agents. 

*** The Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) is included in the register of NPOs performing the functions of a foreign agent, by decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated October 9, 2019. The organization is recognized as extremist, its activities are prohibited by decision of the Moscow City Court dated June 9, 2021.