MOSCOW. Aug 2 (Interfax) - The online publications The Insider and The Project designated as foreign agents in Russia are linked to Bellingcat, an international online investigative journalism project, whose employees include former special services officers, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin said.
"As concerns the organization Bellingcat, its role is different, its role is to put pressure, either on a country or on individuals or legal entities, and it uses dishonest methods in doing that. Information that is used in such cases is false and unverified, and it pursues its own ends," Naryshkin said in an interview with the Soloviev.Live YouTube channel.
"This group includes former special services officers," Naryshkin said. "They stand ready to carry out any tasks, as they do this for money, not altruistically," he said.
Asked whether there is some link between Bellingcat, organizations led by opposition activist Alexei Navalny, and the media outlets The Project, The Insider, and Vazhnye Istorii (Important Stories) and whether these media outlets are truly independent or are "part of a network," Naryshkin said, "These components are linked between themselves."
"Certainly, there is intricate orchestration there, which requires great skill and great efforts, but there is certainly some connection between them, and we feel and see that," he said.