"It is our feeling that the best way to shore up democracy here is to support education and entrepreneurship", said Liz Bailey, Moscow representative of the Future of Europe Trust, also known as FET.
To accomplish that, FET, a London-based non-profit group, is planning two business and political projects in Moscow.
A series of four television programs aimed at teaching Russians the basics of starting a business was produced with the help of BBC TV. The first program, set to air Oct. 27 on Channel 1, covers developing business plans.
Funded by a 10, 000-pound ($6, 000) grant from Britain's Know How fund, the programs are combined with video and audio tapes
and notebooks. Sixteen programs are planned, Bailey said.
Bailey is also networking with Russian universities and political parties to identify candidates for business and political internships.
Business interns, who will be selected in the next few months, will shadow British business representatives and observe meetings with diplomats at the British Embassy.
The trust plans to launch the political internship after the first of the year, Bailey said.
It intends to send Russians aged 25 to 40 who have a strong interest in politics to Britain "to give them on-the-spot training of how the democratic system works", she said.
"We're not trying to transplant the British political system here", Bailey said. "But rather, to expose Russians to the democratic political system".
The trust also runs programs in Poland and Czechoslovakia, she said.
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