Moscow informs Washington about its intention to withdraw from agreement on Peace Corps activities in Russia

Moscow has officially informed Washington of its intention to withdraw from the agreement on Peace Corps activities on Russian territory, the informed sources in Moscow disclosed on Friday.

According to the sources, the decision was prompted by the fact that since the moment of the agreement signing in 1992 the situation in Russia has drastically changed. Russia's need to cooperate with the Peace Corps has decreased noticeably.

Moreover, according to article 9 of the agreement, the activities of the Peace Corps are aimed first of all at the third-world countries, the sources stressed.

In 2002, Russia declined to extend visas for 30 members of the American organisation "Peace Corps", Director of Russian Federal Security Service /FSB/ Nikolai Patrushev disclosed at a meeting with representatives of Russian leading media organisations in the middle of December.

According to Patrushev, American volunteers were refused to enter Russia after it had been established that they "were collecting information about the social-politic and economic situation in Russian regions, about members of authoritative bodies, course of elections, etc." Thus, former Head of the Far Eastern Peace Corps Department Valerie Eban violated the border-crossing regime by penetrating a closed area on the border with China, Patrushev said.

"Peace Corps volunteer, former CIA agent Brown, who in the 1970s recruited military servicemen in Berlin, was establishing in Samara contacts with representatives of the local authorities and leadership of the major defence enterprises," the FSB Director stressed.

According to him, the above-mentioned persons had to leave Russia before their terms of stay expired.

The American Humanitarian Peace Corps has been operating on Russian territory since 1992. At the present moment approximately 200 American volunteers work in 30 various regions of Russia.