USAID Democracy Programs Can Complicate International Relations

Published September 21, 2012

Russian officials say they are ordering the U.S. Agency for International Development to close its operations in the country because U.S. pro-democracy programs have interfered in its elections. VOA’s Brian Padden reports that while Russia is not the only country to make such claims, U.S. officials say foreign assistance is not used to support political opposition groups, but to increase democratic participation and peacefully resolve disputes and grievances.