The budget cuts imposed on the American agency for aid abroad have repercussions on the NGOs and the independent media in Russia, Belarus and Moldova.
Moscow and Belarusian officials welcomed the imminent dismantling of the American Agency for International Development (USAID), while rights defense groups, health researchers and the independent media expressed their concerns about the impact that ‘A withdrawal of funding could have on their operations.
The Trump Administration said that the Aid Agency abroad – which provides billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to projects abroad – will be almost completely closed within the framework of a wider project directed By Elon Musk aimed at rationalizing the bureaucracy of the American government.
On Thursday, officials said that the Trump administration had announced a plan to reduce the number of agency workers from 10,000 to around 290, essentially ending many of its operations and considerably reducing the remaining operations.
Moscow celebrated this decision, the spokesperson for the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, describing the agency Thursday as “everything except an aid, development and assistance agency”.
According to her, USAID is on the contrary a “mechanism of change of regime, of political (and) of the structure of the State”.
Former Russian president and vice-president of the Russian Security Council Dmitri A. Medvedev, described as “intelligent” the decision to dismantle the agency.
But the groups of civil society which help the Russian dissidents claim that the closure of the USAID would jeopardize the future of their work.
OVD-Info, a Russian group for defending the rights following political arrests and offers legal aid to detained and prosecuted persons, said that if the agency’s dismantling had little impact on him, other groups he helps would be affected.
“Without their existence, our work will become much more difficult,” said a spokesperson for OVD-Info.
USAID operated in Russia for two decades until it was hunted in 2012. When it was present, it provided financial assistance to public health campaigns and civil society initiatives.
Kovcheg, a group that helps the Russians fleeing abroad to find shelter, legal and psychological support and training, said he lost 30 % of his budget following the abolition of the USAID.
Anastasia Burakova, founder of Kovcheg, said: “It’s a shame” because the funds will not be allocated to future projects. She added that the organization would probably survive, but that it would be difficult for it to obtain other funding, especially from Russian donors.
The Russian authorities have appointed many human rights organizations such as “foreign agents”, a label that discourages potential donors and prohibits advertising.
Faced with this gel, the Russian philanthropists Boris Zimin and Mikhail Khodorkovski, an exile magnate that has become a Russian opposition figure, announced a support program of $ 600,000 (577,736 euros) for projects in Russian and Ukrainian languages - a Proposal greeted with distrust by Ukrainian bloggers and social media.
Misery to Minsk
President Belarusian Alexandre Loukachenko, who recently provided a new mandate in power through a fixed date election, said that the decision to dismantle the agency was a response to his calls for a ” Reset “relations between Belarus and the United States.
In Belarus, the rights to defend the rights that support political prisoners in the country should undergo drastic reductions in their funding. The AP agency reports that 60 to 80 groups close to opposition leaders may be dismissed en masse, end programs or close their doors permanently.
Viasna, the main human rights defense group in the country, whose imprisoned founder, Ales Bialiatski, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, said that the freezing of the USAID “would harm considerably “to his work.
An activist from the Belarusian Association of Journalists said that of the 30 large Belarusian media groups working abroad, six had lost their funding and had to close their doors completely.
According to the organization, a total of 1.7 million dollars (1.6 million euros) of aid is frozen, more than half of the whole foreign aid in the independent media forced to flee the country after Mr. Loukachenko sparked a generalized repression of the opposition in 2020.
Lena Zhivoglod, director of Honest People, who was created in 2020 to counter the official speech of Loukachenko, said that she should soon dismiss 15 staff members and terminate the group’s office in Warsaw, Poland.
Fight for freedom
The financing of the USAID also extends to the groups responsible for monitoring the elections in Moldova, where European officials accused Russia of having interfered in two key ballots last year, in particular by supporting a system of purchase Massive of votes in the country.
The Promo-Llex association, a long-standing NGO in favor of democracy and human rights in Moldova, said that USAID funds represent around 75 to 80 % of its projects, which include the observation of elections, political funding and parliamentary control.
“Without immediate alternative support, these crucial activities may not continue on the same scale or with the same efficiency,” said Ion Manole, executive director of the association.
“Given the past Russian interference – through the illicit financing of campaigns, political corruption and disinformation – our observation mission is essential to guarantee the transparency of the elections,” he added.
The Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orbán also celebrated the disappearance of the USAID by declaring on Friday morning that his government would initiate legal proceedings to eliminate non-governmental organizations and the media operating in the country which receive funds from the United States and other international sources.
Orbán praised Mr. Trump’s decision to dismantle the USAID, saying that his work had been used to finance organizations that were looking to “overthrow” his government.
“It is now that these international networks must be dismantled, that they must be swept away,” said Mr. Orbán. “It is necessary to make their existence legally impossible.