Self-Declared Independent Russian Media The Projekt Received Foreign Funding - Reports

The Russian news outlet The Projekt, which positioned itself as an independent media and attracted attention for publishing materials critical of the Russian authorities, has received foreign funding, the Russian broadcaster RT reported on Wednesday, citing obtained document

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 17th February, 2021) The Russian news outlet The Projekt, which positioned itself as an independent media and attracted attention for publishing materials critical of the Russian authorities, has received foreign funding, the Russian broadcaster RT reported on Wednesday, citing obtained documents.

The news outlet was created in 2018 by former editor-in-chief of the RBC news agency and broadcaster Dozhd (also known as tv Rain), Roman Badanin. The media is managed by the legal entity Project Media, Inc., registered in the United States, although a similar company exists in Lithuania. Both are headed by Badanin.

According to RT, the media received donations from three sources, the EU European Endowment for Democracy (EED), the US Congress-funded National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the Sreda Foundation. Both the EED and NED have been declared as undesirable entities in Russia, while the Sreda Foundation is listed in Russia as a foreign agent. The EED is reported to have given The Projekt $240,000, while NED and Sreda provided $40,000 and $50,000, respectively.

The documents, provided by RT, demonstrate that the EED funding came with a list of demands, which included making at least 20 videos, podcasts and infographic materials, as well as 35 feature stories, with each article having at least 150,000 views.

Meanwhile, the NED's $40,000 were paid in four installments, starting October 2018, with the receiver obligated to provide four narrative and four financial reports.

"The organization will track the impact of improvements in its online presence, particularly in terms of audience size and engagement. Indicators of success may include greater public access to high-quality independent Russian-language investigative reporting, political responses to or prominent citations of its investigations," one of the NED documents reads.

Meanwhile, the Sreda Foundation gave money with no specific strings attached, likely because Badanin and the foundation's head, Boris Zimin, have been acquainted since 2017 and the latter writes columns in The Projekt.