Taubina said her organization doesn’t accept American money, even though it does receive donations from other foreign sources as well as from the Russian government.
What’s more important for her group is the potential loss of a strong supportive voice for its cause. Although many consider Russia deaf to such interventions, Taubina disagrees.
“It’s important to continue this criticism as it helps us in our work,” she said.
This is a point of view shared by Leonard Benardo, regional director for Eurasia at the Open Society Foundations, one of the international organizations forced shut down its Russia operations in 2015.
“Russia does not like to be criticized, let alone humiliated, in the public sphere,” Benardo said. “They don’t like bad press. They don’t appreciate to find themselves in situations where they are harangued or criticized.”
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