It has already been established that the Biden administration helped fund Vladimir Putin's war machine by green-lighting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and also importing Russian oil.
It also turns out that Putin is sending millions of dollars to American environmental groups working to shut down the fracking industry, according to U.S. Congress members.
On March 11, Republican Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Bill Johnson of Ohio sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen asking for an investigation into the reported Russian manipulation of American "green groups" that are seemingly funded with dark money.
"Russia spent millions promoting anti-energy policies and politicians in the U.S.," Banks told Fox News Digital. "Now, thanks to Biden's war on domestic energy, U.S. oil production has dropped 10%, pushing up prices and enriching and emboldening Putin before he invaded Ukraine.... Unlike the Russia hoax, Putin's malign influence on our energy sector is real and deserves further investigation."
The letter from Banks and Johnson noted:
"According to Sea Change's tax filing, in 2010 the group received $23 million, half of its total annual contributions, from a Bahamian shell corporation tied to the Russian government. Sea Change then passed that money to groups like the Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress who lobbied strongly against fracking and pro-energy policies, to reduce competition with Russian oil and gas. In 2020, the Center for American Progress donated over $800,000 exclusively to Democrat politicians and groups' and Sierra Club Independent Action spent $3.7 million supporting Democrat candidates.
Related: Energy pioneer charges Team Biden ‘manufactured scarcity and mandated insecurity’ globally, March 14, 2022
"Russia also used its state media and social media disinformation campaigns to attack America's energy industry. Russia Today is especially focused on energy policy. According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Russia Today's coverage 'is likely reflective of the Russian Government's concern about the impact of fracking and U.S. natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom's profitability.' In 2021, after Biden's first year in office, Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy company, earned record profits."
In a March 15 analysis for Gatestone Institute, Drieu Godefridi noted that the Sea Change Foundation "is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) private not-for-profit organization. As every American 501(c)(3), Sea Change must disclose that it has received funds from abroad — in this instance a Bermuda company. Nothing more."
The Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, which are heavily involved in the opposition to shale gas exploration in the United States, have received a total of $10 million a year from the American Sea Change Foundation.
The mechanism, Godefridi wrote, can be summarized as follows:
"Funds from the Russian government -> Shell company 'incorporated' in Bermuda -> American foundation -> American environmental organizations."
Bermuda does not require any disclosure that funds come from a foreign government, contrary to American law.
"The aggression on Ukraine by Russia, whose military is literally financed by European purchases of Russian gas — which is 40% of the gas consumed in Europe — obliges us to throw the full media and judicial spotlight on these accusations," Godefridi wrote. "In this respect, the recent call by the Republican Study Committee — the largest group of conservatives in the U.S. House of Representatives — for Treasury Secretary Yellen to investigate whether Russian money financed USA green groups is a step in the right direction."
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