West Spends Billions Of Dollars Annually For Russia's Deterrence - Russian Lawmaker

The West allocates billions of dollars annually to deter Russia, including by inciting Russian youth to protests, Andrei Klimov, the head of the Russian upper chamber's commission for state sovereignty protection, said on Thursday

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th April, 2021) The West allocates billions of Dollars annually to deter Russia, including by inciting Russian youth to protests, Andrei Klimov, the head of the Russian upper chamber's commission for state sovereignty protection, said on Thursday.

"The total amount of Western funding of the so-called deterrence of Russia is measured in annual terms in billions of dollars," Klimov said at a meeting of the Russian Ad Hoc Commission on Protecting State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in the Domestic Affairs.

Much of this money is spent on mobilizing the Russian youth to participate in various kinds of protests, the lawmaker said.

"Foreign centers acting through their proxies carry out individual work among the youth, including by involving young people and even minors in illegal actions," Klimov said.

According to the lawmaker, it is not uncommon for protest organizers, who often happen to be registered foreign agents, to jockey young people into holding unauthorized events and provoking clashes with law enforcement officers.

In 2020, the US National Endowment for Democracy (recognized as undesirable agency in Russia) alone processed about $700,000 for the work with the Russian youth to support political demonstrations, organize training for activists, and promote sustainable networking among them, Klimov said.

The lawmaker recalled US President Joe Biden asking the Congress earlier in April to provide the Department of Defense with a $715 billion budget to deter Russia and China.