Pamfilova calls competition commission meeting to prevent Maria Gaidar Foundation from getting presidential grant
MOSCOW. July 19 (Interfax) - Maria Gaidar's Social Demand Foundation will not receive the presidential grant of almost three million rubles, Russian Human Rights Commissioner Ella Pamfilova told Interfax on Sunday.
"I have initiated a meeting of the competition commission in the very near future. I think the grant allocation must be frozen," she said.
Gaidar has left for Ukraine after being appointed as deputy to the Odessa region governor, Mikheil Saakashvili.
Under the terms of the competition, nonprofit organizations led by public servants are not entitled to the presidential grant, Pamfilova said.
"Since Maria Gaidar has decided to become an official, and an official of another state, we cannot give this grant at present. We are freezing it," the commissioner said.
It is Gaidar who applied for the grant, signed all documents and is the grant recipient, Pamfilova said.
In 2014, Gaidar's foundation received a presidential grant of over two million rubles, and in 2015 it was to get almost three million rubles, she said.
"In future, if the Social Demand Foundation continues to exist under a new leader, it can participate in the grants competition. They have good, competitive projects," Pamfilova said.