US terminates over 140 foreign grants, including in Armenia, UK, Brazil

The US authorities have terminated over 140 foreign grants, including in Armenia, the UK, Belarus, Moldova, Brazil and elsewhere around the world. 

The US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) announced on X that Secretary of State Marco Rubio continues to scrutinize State Department’s foreign assistance and on April 15 cancelled over 140 “wasteful” grants worth over $215 million.

The cancelled grants include 1.4mm for “Preventing Internet Fragmentation” in Brazil, $750k for “Enabling Civil Society Resilience and Adaptation” in Kyrgyzstan,  $1mm for “Building Trust and Keeping Hope Alive” in Sri Lanka, $2mm for “Advancing Democratic Culture” in Armenia, $5.2mm to “Media Diversity” for programs like “Get the Trolls Out!” - “an anti-disinformation program” in the United Kingdom and more.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative of the second Trump administration tasked with cutting federal spending which it characterizes as "waste, fraud, and abuse.”