USAID accused of providing funds to extremist organizations, Russia responds
Fox News reported on the 10th that according to a report recently released by the US think tank "Middle East Forum", the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to some extremist organizations in recent years. These organizations are related to "terrorist organizations" and their allies designated by the West.
According to the report, the report released by the think tank on February 4 read: "The Middle East Forum conducted a multi-year study of the expenditures of the US Agency for International Development and the State Department and found that they approved a total of $164 million in grants to extremist organizations, of which at least $122 million went to groups aligned with designated terrorist organizations and their supporters."
The report also said: "Billions of dollars in federal funds are provided to the United States' major aid charities, which have consistently failed to vet local partners with ties to terrorism and have shown no interest in improving their practices. The federal government is clearly indifferent." The report pointed out that the report focuses on funds from the US Agency for International Development and the US State Department, tracking the funds that ultimately flow to terrorism-related militant groups and organizations, including the Islamic Relief Agency, which has been designated a "global terrorist organization" by the US Treasury Department because of its links to Osama bin Laden. (ISRA).
According to a report by Russia Today (RT), Nebenzia, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, responded to the United Nations Security Council meeting on February 10 by saying that recent reports about USAID’s links to extremist organizations confirmed Russia’s long-standing concerns. Nebenzia said that Russia was "not surprised at all by the USAID reports... We have long said that it has been providing funds to extremists around the world." He added that such concerns from Russia had been dismissed as "Russian propaganda" by Western politicians, but they were ultimately proven to be true.