Voice of America: Russia gave 500,000 euros to DP

Russia has spent over $300m secretly on political parties and candidates in dozens of countries since 2014, and President Putin has committed himself to underground political financing worldwide, according to a senior American official..

According to the official who spoke to the media, this is the conclusion in which a report by the American intelligence community reaches, which has analysed Russia's financing “over 24 countries in recent years in an effort to manipulate democracies from within”.

According to a source of knowledge on the American intelligence report, Albania is one of those countries.

In Albania, Russia granted about half a million dollars to the Democratic Party in 2017 through ghost companies”, the American government's source said.

The source provided no further details on Albania's case. But in 2017, the name of the Democratic Party and the figure mentioned of $500,000 correspond to investigations that were opened in Albania at the time against the DP based on statements that the American lobby firm Muzin Capitol Partners reported having received from the DP.

The American lobby firm had declared in 2018 in the U.S. Department of Justice that it had received a total of three payments - a total of $675 thousand - for its work in favour of the Democratic Party in 2017.

The first payment date is March 24th 2017, and was made by the firm Baniatta Trade LP”, worth $150, the other two, according to the declaration, one on March 27, for $25,000, and the other on June 9th for $500,000.

In a long research article on these payments to the Scotland-based Muzin Capitol, the American magazine Mother Jones raised doubts that after part of the payments made by the company “Binite Trade LP”, Russian businessmen stood for lobbying activities in favour of DP before the 2016 elections in Albania.

The Muzin firm's statements to the Justice Department reportedly were made by the Democratic Party. However, the $500,000 figure figures in the Biniatta contract and not the PD, according to Mother Jones.

Albanian authorities opened investigations regarding these payments, saying that “money was paid by an off-the-art company and that the Democratic Party has not reported regularly, near the Central Election Commission, money spent, thus avoiding legislation to prevent money laundering”.

The prosecution later withdrew from charges of money laundering, and the Court dismissed the case filed for forged documents to Lulzim Basha, Arben Ristani and Ilir Dervisaj about payments to the Muzin firm.

Former leader of the Democratic Party Lulzim Basha has provided various explanations of $500,000 payment, stating at the outset that she was given by the Albanian-Americans, but later it has been indicated that “what the lobbyist did and how he did it. It's the Muzin firm's third-party” relationship.

In addition to Albania, according to the US administration's source, Bosnia and Montenegro are also mentioned in the report, for funding the campaign of Bosnian Serb leader Milorak Dodik for the 2018 elections and funds for the pro-Russian Democratic Front Party respectively.

The American official told the media that the United States is committed to allies and partners to collect more information about the danger of Russian financing for political parties.

What's most shocking about this study is that we see the presence of secret Russian funding worldwide... We are warning these foreign parties and candidates that if they secretly accept Russia's money. We have the opportunity to expose, and we will expose”, he added. /The Voice of America