Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05MINSK1327
2005-10-31 12:55:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Minsk
Cable title:  

Embassy Officers Encounter Problems In Slutsk

Tags:  PGOV PREL BO 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0021
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSK #1327/01 3041255
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 311255Z OCT 05
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3253
INFO RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 3192
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KIEV 2976
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001327 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL BO
SUBJECT: Embassy Officers Encounter Problems In Slutsk


Classified by Ambassador George Krol for Reasons 1.4 (B,D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001327

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2015
TAGS: PGOV PREL BO
SUBJECT: Embassy Officers Encounter Problems In Slutsk


Classified by Ambassador George Krol for Reasons 1.4 (B,D)


1. (C) Summary: On October 19, poloffs visited the southern
town of Slutsk to view the GOB's large-scale, harvest-
related renovation of the city and to meet with various
government, opposition, and social leaders. State media
reporters and regional authorities harassed poloffs and
interfered in their meetings. A caravan of police, news,
and KGB vehicles followed the emboffs throughout Slutsk.
Despite this harassment, emboffs were able to meet with
newspaper editors and a consumer protection group who
confirmed emboffs' suspicions that the town's renovation
was superficial at best. However, meetings with the local
authorities and opposition activists were cancelled and
poloffs returned early to Minsk. At a later meeting in
Minsk, activists expressed their frustration with the
capital-centric attitude and in-fighting among the
political opposition elite. End Summary.

Dazhynki
--------------


2. (U) Slutsk (pop. 60,000) hosted the 2005 harvest
festival celebration Dazhynki on October 7. Dazhynki is a
holiday marking the end of Belarus' harvest season and
honors the country's best grain growers. Every year, the
GOB chooses a different city to host the celebration, which
is usually chosen well in advance to allow for the city's
massive facelift. These renovations are primarily new
paint jobs, fagade work, and repairs on visible
infrastructure, such as sidewalks and roads. However, Post
has heard from residents of former Dazhynki towns that the
renovations are often shoddy and do not include the
necessary inner-building repairs. According to the state
press, the GOB allocated USD 56.7 million for Slutsk's
renovation. During the celebration, city access was closed
and tightly guarded, leaving some residents stranded and
unable to return to their homes. President Lukashenko
christened the new and improved Slutsk and used the time to
lambaste the U.S. and the Belarusian opposition movement in
his speech while highlighting what he, and not the
government, did for the city. Poloffs decided to visit
Slutsk to find out the true story of Dazhynki.

A Bad Start
--------------



3. (SBU) Upon arrival in Slutsk on October 19, a marked
police car appeared and tailed Poloffs to their first
meeting with the chair of the district executive committee
Aleksandr Drako. The Embassy arranged the meeting with
Drako a week in advance, asking for a small chat about the
previous week's festivities, but as poloffs entered Drako's
office, they were met by local state owned press and the
national television channel Stolichnaye Televidinye (STV).
When poloffs protested the press presence at what was
supposed to be a closed meeting, one of Drako's associates
smiled and said in an audible voice, "Why, how are we going
to advertise that we had diplomats in this town without
videotaping the event. We have no secrets." After some
discussion, poloffs gave their apologies and left the
building with the STV cameraman following them to the
Embassy vehicle.

A Hostile Attitude
--------------


4. (SBU) The police, along with a press van and the
executive committee's chief ideology officer in a BKGB
vehicle, followed poloffs to their next meeting with Sergei
Stankevich, chief editor of the independent newspaper
Kurier. Stankevich at first refused admittance to the
journalists, but the STV correspondent told him that it was
her job and duty to videotape the meeting. Stankevich
allowed three correspondents and the ideology officer into
the room, but without cameras. Poloffs asked the
journalists to leave, but the ideology officer could not
understand why American diplomats on an official visit did
not want to speak in front of the cameras. Eventually they
all left the room.


5. (C) Stankevich spoke about the town renovations that
began after January 1, such as the new homes built,
downtown's remodeled architecture, the widening of town
square, and the relocation of the refurbished statue of
Lenin to the front of the administration building. In his
opinion, the city became more European, which in turn
changed the residents' behavior, inspiring them to walk
around the parks and get out of their houses.


6. (C) Due to the difficulties in publishing controversial
articles, Stankevich's newspaper has become more business
oriented rather than political and avoids opinion and
commentary. Chief editor of Kapital (9,000 copies a week)
Andrei Kadrenko, stressed how his newspaper, which is
mostly a large advertising journal, is completely
independent and does not rely on grants. Another paper,
Kareer, is trying to preserve and resurrect the area's
history, which according to the GOB, did not begin until
after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.


7. (C) Kadrenko curtly asked poloffs why Embassy officers
were in Slutsk and what was the purpose of the meeting.
Kadrenko told poloffs that they had already seen that the
new decorations were just a fagade hiding the bad
interiors. He then opined that no independent/opposition
press exists in Belarus. The "so-called" independent
newspapers have their own censors and allegedly cater to
Western interests. According to Kadrenko, the West should
stop financing the newspapers because it does not help
Belarus and all the money goes into people's pockets.
Kadrenko then asked if free press existed in the U.S. and,
along with the editors of Oska Express and Kareer, accused
the Washington Post of being the White House's mouthpiece.
[Comment: The independent editors' behavior towards poloffs
was antagonistic and rude at best. They were hesitant to
speak about their activities or about life in Slutsk and
dodged poloffs' questions. At one point, Kadrenko told
Stankevich to quit complaining to poloffs and then began to
indirectly insinuate that press in the U.S. was not free.
All did not seem satisfied with any of poloffs' answers to
their questions.]

A Successful Organization
--------------


8. (C) Igor Gubanov, chair of the non-profit Protection of
Consumers' Rights group, met with poloffs at his office.
Gubanov's organization, founded in 1992, defends consumers
against state companies and private businesses that sell
faulty products and "lemon" merchandise. Cases range from
faulty plumbing to rotten bread. The organization also
provides free legal counseling and advice.


9. (C) Local authorities, according to Gubanov, refuse to
work with his organization, let alone answer Gubanov's
letters or requests for meetings. When Gubanov first
began, the authorities would not even provide him an office
until his parent organization in Minsk got involved.
Recently, the authorities turned off the organization's
phone line without providing a reason.


10. (C) Gubanov's organization relies on what its clients
are able to donate, so money is scarce. None of Gubanov's
staff has received wages in two months and they are now
trying to find a way to pay for heat. However, the
organization continues to operate and amazingly wins 95
percent of its lawsuits against businesses. Three pending
lawsuits concern Slutsk's large-scale renovations for the
Dazhynki festival. According to Gubanov, officials ordered
the renovations without concern for people's property and
living conditions. Roofs were torn off and not covered,
allowing massive flooding in people's homes without
compensation while workers carelessly broke personal
property, mirrors, and windows in their hasty efforts to
give the town a face-lift.


11. (C) Anatoly Samusevich of the Union of Entrepreneurs
joined the meeting and had to push the press back out of
the room. [Note: Each time Samusevich or Gubanov left the
room, journalists tried to enter.] Samusevich reported
that 2100 private businesses exist in Slutsk, but only 80
of them are 100 percent privately owned. Business is
developing, albeit at a slow pace, and one quarter of the
region's budget comes from private enterprises. Around 90
percent of private businessmen are market traders who
travel to Russia and Ukraine to buy cheap products and
resell them in Slutsk. Samusevich pointed out that the
authorities are too reluctant to accept new initiatives and
too many laws contradict each other.


12. (C) Petr Stepanovich of the group Spadchina (Heritage)
entered the room and tried to bring in the STV cameraman.
Poloffs asked Stepanovich to leave the reporter outside,
but Stepanovich claimed he wanted the state press to film
him telling diplomats about the horrible human rights
situation in Belarus. Spadchina is a group of
intellectuals who monitor human rights abuses in Slutsk.
Stepanovich wrote a report and sent it to the President,
parliament, and the administration, but received no reply.

A Failed Meeting
--------------


13. (C) Poloffs met with various political activists in the
parking lot across from Gubanov's office to decide on a
location for the meeting. The activists were not happy
with being filmed and offered to meet in an apartment. The
police, media, and ideology officer/BKGB followed the
Embassy vehicle to the designated apartment, but Poloffs,
fearing a set-up, decided to cancel the meeting. The
activists, headed by Narodnaya Gramada leader Gennadiyi
Shevtsov and other members of the United Civic Party and
Conservative Christian Party BPF understood and agreed to
meet poloffs at a later date.

An Escort Out of Town
--------------


14. (SBU) The caravan continued to follow Poloffs as they
drove around town looking at the renovation work. The
police followed for an additional twenty minutes beyond
city limits. At a restaurant along the highway, Poloffs
pulled over to ask a pedestrian where to buy pumpkins.
Before the pedestrian could finish his sentence, the police
car pulled up alongside and called the pedestrian over for
a little talk.

A Later Meeting
--------------


15. (C) On October 26, the Slutsk political activists met
poloff at the Embassy and thanked the U.S. for its moral
support and apologized for the government press'
"unethical" behavior and harassment. The activists claimed
that freedom of association in Slutsk is nonexistent, but
since they had all either been fired or lost their
businesses, they no longer fear the local authorities.
They criticized their respective party leaders for spending
too much time abroad rather than visiting the regions.
According to Shevtsov, the only way to contact party
headquarters is to travel to Minsk since none of the 10+
leaders had been to Slutsk in ages. The activists are
frustrated with the childish games between the opposition
parties and their inability to see things through. They
opined that few Slutsk residents would participate in
street actions following the 2006 presidential election
because in 2001 the parties failed to defend citizens who
were fired for supporting the anti-Lukashenko movement.

Comment
--------------


16. (C) It was apparent that the journalists, police, and
ideology officer's goal was to fluster emboffs and
interfere with the meetings. Emboffs have been followed
before on regional trips, but the magnitude of attention
given in Slutsk was a first. Remarks made by the
journalists and the executive committee, such as "we have
no secrets" or "do the diplomats plan not to talk to the
press at all" coincide with the anti-U.S. statements
regularly made on Belarus' propaganda television. No doubt
this footage will be used for that purpose. The DCM raised
with the America's Desk of the MFA the state media's
harassment of embassy officers. The MFA official responded
that the press were doing their job of getting "news," but
promised to request the press department look into the
issue. Nonetheless, Post expects such harassment to get
worse as presidential elections approach.

KROL