Could it be that Western environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs), movements, and political parties have, for the last ten years, been unwitting partners of the Russian government? This question stems from a report published this year by the Foundation for Political Innovation (Fondapol). The director of Fondapol, Dominique Reynié, stated in a recent interview:
"We have discovered that Gazprom, in particular, funds environmental NGOs that have provided ministers for certain European countries, such as Belgium, who then clearly began to return the favour by advocating for the abandonment of nuclear energy."
Such messages are nothing new
The Guardian quoted the then-NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2014, who put forward the following version of events:
"I have met with allies who report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, is actively engaged with so-called non-governmental organisations – environmental organisations working against shale gas – to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas."
There are large reserves of shale gas beneath Europe. Exploiting these natural gas stocks would significantly reduce European purchases of and dependence on Russian natural gas, especially from its gas giant Gazprom. The same applies to nuclear energy, which offers Western countries an abundant, CO2-free energy source as an alternative to Russian gas. Therefore, the Russian government has a direct interest in orchestrating a broad disinformation campaign against shale gas and nuclear energy in the West, by massively funding those groups that are most likely to "naturally" oppose them – environmental protection organisations.
On 29 June 2017, two of the leading American federal lawmakers on energy issues – US Representatives Randy Weber and Lamar Smith – sent a letter to the then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, requesting an investigation into Russian Federation government funding of US environmental organisations. According to The Hill:
"The letter notes that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton lamented in a private address in 2016: 'We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians...'"
Without providing direct evidence of the origin of the funds – which is not their task – both congressmen demonstrated a mechanism that can be shown as follows:
Russian government funds -> A Shell company 'registered' in Bermuda -> American foundation -> American environmental organisations