WASHINGTON, September 20 - RAPSI. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) conducted no work in Russia that directly affected the political processes, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

"We completely reject the notion that our support for civil society, democracy, human rights in any way interferes with elections, whether in Russia or anywhere else in the world... And with regard to our support for civil society, for democracy, for human rights, for rule of law, we will continue to work with those Russians in civil society who want to work with us," Nuland said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

The State Department has vowed to continue its support of Russian civil society, even if it means finding creative ways to do so. According to Nuland, "There are all different kinds of ways to support civil society. As I said, we have at least 20 missions around the world where we support civil society without having an AID mission, per se. Whether we can - whether we do this directly to our assistance partners, whether we do it through international organizations, through foundations, we are going to continue to support the development of a strong civil society in Russia."

Nuland confirmed that the agency had worked with Russian political parties, but insisted that all political parties-the ruling United Russia party included-had equal access to USAID resources.

She said the United States regrets that the cooperation is coming to an end; the United States has spent about $50 million on this cooperation this year alone, and approximately $2.7 billion since it opened up shop in Russia two decades ago. The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Russian officials had told USAID to cease its activity in Russia starting on October 1 because the agency had "tried to influence the political process in the country through its financial grants." Rights advocates have expressed concerns over USAID's pullout and stressed that it would negatively affect a number of NGOs.

USAID is a U.S. sponsored organization that was initiated by John F. Kennedy in 1961. USAID is involved in developing the economy, healthcare, providing urgent humanitarian aid, assisting in the prevention of conflicts and supporting the development of democracy in more than a hundred countries.