LONDON, Feb 15 — Moscow has urged the US to disclose the names of Russian opposition figures who received funding from USAID, which Elon Musk called a “criminal organization.”
According to The Times, the appeal came after US President Donald Trump’s decision to freeze international aid for 90 days and suspend USAID, cutting off funding for Russian opposition media and human rights groups.
Trump put Musk in charge of a “Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)”, an office the US president created by executive order and likely named after the Doge memecoin, which is on a supposed mission to weed out “waste, fraud, and abuse” within the US bureaucracy.
Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s Duma, said the US should extend the list to his government for further action.
“If they recognised the [USAid] organisation as an enemy, let them give us the lists. Congress will send us the lists — we will give them to the FSB [Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation],” he was quoted as saying.
Musk, who is leading Trump’s cost-cutting measures, accused USAID of illegally financing far-left groups, though he did not present evidence.
Russian officials, including Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, have praised Trump’s actions, claiming USAID had long been a tool for destabilization.
The Moscow Times reported that up to 90 opposition-linked organizations have already lost their funding since the suspension took effect.
Trump’s criticism of USAID has also been welcomed by officials in Belarus and Georgia, where the government faces allegations of being influenced by the Kremlin.
The US had previously accused President Putin’s United Russia party of receiving USAID funds, a claim Russia denied before expelling the agency in 2012.
