July 5 (Reuters) - Russia accused a small U.S.-based charity on Wednesday of "sabotaging" the construction of a huge gas pipeline to China and banned it as an "undesirable organisation".
Jennifer Castner, director of the Altai Project, described the accusation as absurd but said it had been only a matter of time.
The Russian prosecutor general's office said that while claiming to advocate nature conservation, the Altai Project was meddling in Russia's internal affairs and could damage its economic security.
"The key direction of the organisation's work is sabotaging the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline," it said.
The planned pipeline is intended to deliver 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year from Russia to China via Mongolia.
Persons:
Jennifer Castner, general's, Castner, Mark Trevelyan, Conor Humphries
Organizations:
WWF, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
Russia, U.S, China, Altai, Siberia, Mongolia, Moscow, Ukraine, Beijing, Greater Altai, Kazakhstan