Russian television channel NTV has accused human rights charity Amnesty International of secret links to international terror groups.

The program, which aired on Wednesday night, alleged that the group was connected to terrorist attacks on Istanbul's Ataturk Airport in June, as they “had previously tried to protect the extremists.”

The organization advocated on behalf of one of the future bombers, Chechen Akhmed Chatayev after he was arrested in Ukraine in 2010. The group called on the Ukrainian parliament not to extradite Chatayev, as he would be at risk of “torture and ill-treatment.”

Amnesty International received a “multi-million dollar budgets in U.S. dollars,” the program said, claiming that the money had been earmarked to covertly “encourage international terrorism.”

Russian human rights group Memorial also came under fire, with accusations that the organization forged documents for illegal migrants.

Memorial was also accused of helping Islamist militants who wished to fight in Iraq and Syria.



NTV is a private company owned by Gazprom Media — a Gazprom subsidiary which has been under U.S. sanctions since September 2016.