Russia Freezes Media Charity Bank Accounts

Tax inspectors have frozen the Russian bank accounts of an international media charity.

Tax inspectors have frozen the Russian bank accounts of an international media charity which says it is being targeted by the Kremlin, a lawyer for the charity said on Tuesday.

Police have already confiscated files and equipment from the Moscow office of the U.S.-based Internews Network as part of an investigation into its Russian director on smuggling charges.

"Last Wednesday, by ruling of the tax inspectorate ... the accounts of the Educated Media Foundation, which is the legal successor of Internews, were frozen," Viktor Parshutkin, the director's lawyer, told Reuters.

"The official explanation is that the Educated Media Foundation did not submit a complete report on VAT payments for the past quarter, but that is not true," he said. "The underlying cause of this is political."

"There is a campaign starting against non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which are operating in Russia with the money of foreign organisations. The upper echelons of power do not like it."

The tax inspectorate could not be reached for comment.

Internews works to foster independent media in Russia, where the main television stations are state-owned or controlled by state-run companies and tend to toe the Kremlin line.

The Russian office changed its named from Internews Russia, but is still affiliated to the U.S.-based charity. It suspended its operations after the police raid, saying it was unable to work properly without its equipment and files.

Police suspect the office's director, Manana Aslamazyan, of bringing a sum of cash into the country larger than the amount allowed under customs rules. She has said the cash was her private money.

Russia has tightened up control over foreign-funded NGOs and introduced new rules for them, saying it suspects some of them are being used as a cover by foreign states to interfere in domestic politics.

Critics of the rules say President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin, which has established tight control over politics and the economy, was trying to bring civil society under its control.

The International Federation of Journalists is holding its annual congress in Moscow this week. It said it chose the venue to highlight the challenges facing independent journalists in Russia.