The Moscow Times has a great story about how a pro-Kremlin think tank was contracted by a state-controlled hydroelectric company to create a fake indigenous rights group to overcome local opposition to a new dam.
It's not surprising that the Kremlin is creating fake civil society groups to front for its policies, but what's impressive is that none of the parties involved are even trying to hide what's going on. The think tank even put the project in its own PR:
The think tank, the National Institute for Development of Modern
Ideology, trumpets the social organization, which is called Evenkia for
Our Descendants, as a "successful PR project" in its recently released
annual bulletin.
Institute deputy director Yury Barklyansky confirmed by telephone that
the institute had been involved in the social organization, which he
said it "worked on with RusHydro." ... Two pages of the institute's annual bulletin are devoted to the Evenkia
social organization, and the section is titled, "Forming Positive
Public Opinion About Large Investment Projects Among the Inhabitants of
Evenkia."
Here's how the group operates:
Evenk residents confirmed that Evenkia for Our Descendants is active in
the region, distributing flyers, but they said it lacks public support.
"They have talked to everyone in Tura, and only a couple people have
joined them," Vladimir Lvov, an opponent of the dam, said by telephone
from Tura.
He said he knows of three people working for the organization: Viktoria
Merkulyeva, a local schoolteacher who heads the organization, and two
people who have been living in a Tura hotel for months. "They take
pictures and interview locals and then change our quotes and mix up
information," he said.
While the organization may not have the support of the locals, it
has been recognized by RusHydro and was the first indigenous
organization to meet with company management in January.
"Our Descendents" website, featuring letters to the president from residents supporting the dam and children's drawings of the region's hydro-powered future, is here.
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