By Kevin McCauley
Grayling CEO Michael Murphy believes protestors, who on Monday night picketed the London office of Huntsworth's global PR operation for its alleged work for the government of Belarus, are off base.
Murphy |
Belarus has been called "Europe's last dictatorship" and its strongman president Alexander Lukashenko is in the midst of a pro-democracy crackdown.
Murphy told O’Dwyer’s that Grayling neither represents the government of Lukashenko nor any state-controlled entity.
He said Grayling, the only major PR firm with an office in Belarus’ capital city of Minsk, represents foreign companies that want to do business in the nation that borders Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
In addressing protestors’ claim that Grayling indirectly supports the government since the bulk of its companies are state-controlled, Murphy said: "Grayling follows the lead of its clients and remains fully cognizant of guidance from the United Kingdom and EU diplomatic positions on Belarus."
He noted that the British government wants to support trade with Belarus as part of its effort to effect positive change in the former Soviet State.
The protest outside Grayling’s headquarters featured the starpower of Kevin Spacey, Jude Law and Tom Stoppard.
Murphy said the only countrywide project that Grayling has conducted in Belarus so far was a public education campaign to raise awareness of hepatitis C, an effort not connected with the government.
|