Ambassador's Trip to Mozyr

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001365

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/PPD WIERICHS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/15
TAGS: PGOV PHUM BO
SUBJECT: Ambassador's Trip to Mozyr

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


1. (SBU) Ambassador and Emboffs visited the southeastern
Belarusian city of Mozyr November 3 and 4. Ambassador met
with the head of Mozyr refinery and toured the facility
(septel),opened the Embassy's tenth American corner in a
local library, gave interviews to local print and broadcast
media, met with city officials and representatives of the
local political opposition, and visited a local Chernobyl
relief/student dance NGO. On the way back to Minsk
Ambassador paid respects to victims of a German WWII
Concentration Camp at a memorial and spoke with local
officials in Azarichi.


Embassy Minsk's Tenth American Corner
--------------


2. (U) Ambassador opened the tenth American Corner in
Belarus at the Mozyr Central Regional Library. In a
ceremony attended by local government officials and over 30
local librarians and teachers, Ambassador made an official
donation of books, CD-Roms, audio-visual equipment,
computers and internet connectivity valued in excess of USD
20,000. To date, the USG has supported the American Corner
Program in Belarus in the amount of over USD 250,000.


Typical Struggling Opposition
--------------


3. (C) On November 3 Ambassador met with Leonid Orlov of
the UCP (and the only opposition member on the city
council),Vladimir Zhoblo of the BPC, and Vladimir Phelipun
on the Vyasna human rights NGO. According to this group,
most voters worry about a difficult economic situation.
Prices for communal services (rent and utilities) are
rising faster than salaries. The typical resident of Mozyr
works 40 percent of his time to pay taxes, and the number
of private enterprises in the town is shrinking, from 2,800
in 2004 to 2,080 now. However, in many cases pensioners
receive more from the state than workers earn, so the
elderly largely support Lukashenko. Much of the rest of
the population is politically passive. Typically, in fact,
many residents think Lukashenko would solve their problems
(caused by local officials),if he only knew of them.


4. (C) Mozyr's only independent newspaper was closed
several years ago, and it is hard to find independent
papers from Minsk. Even though Mozyr is only 40 kilometers
from the Ukrainian border, residents do not receive
Ukrainian television or radio. State media propaganda that
Ukraine is much worse off then Belarus is widely believed.


5. (C) Party membership is very small in Mozyr, and members
face problems from authorities. Mozyr, a town of 110,000,
has less than one hundred activists (UCP 23 members, BPF
20, and BPC 40). When the local parties held their
convention to choose delegates for the 10+ coalition, two
young "drunks" arrived at the house where they were
meeting. Immediately, 23 police officers came to disrupt
the meeting because "of reports of a fight." However, the
"drunks" themselves had only just arrived and had not had a
chance to stage anything, so the police left. On October
22 police, claiming to be looking for illegal firearms,
raided Orlov's home while the parties were meeting with a
Polish NGO. Police detained everyone for three hours and
deported the two NGO representatives. Despite such
problems, the opposition has some successes. After
complaints of official falsification in the 2003 local
elections, the head of the local election commission held a
fair recount of the vote. This led to the UCP's Orlov
being elected to the city council. Surprisingly, the local
commission head did not lose his job.


6. (C) When asked what they have done to support the
election of Milinkevich as their presidential candidate,
Vyasna admitted it distributed 1,000 leaflets giving
background on Milinkevich. However, none of the 10+
parties had done anything to support his candidacy locally.
Local Engagement a Success
--------------


7. (C) In meetings with the deputy mayor of Mozyr as well
as local officials in Azarichi, Ambassador discussed ways
the U.S. Embassy could engage with the local population in
areas of culture, health and social issues. Officials were
cautiously open to such contact, but it was apparent they
had no authority to engage without approval from Minsk.


8. (C) The opening of the American Corner was well attended
and cordial, although fully orchestrated by the local
authorities, who, while supportive of our initiative, were
very cautious about it. Again, once they got approval from
on high to engage, they were very supportive.


9. (C) Ambassador gave several interviews to local state
media (no independent media exists in Mozyr). Journalists
queried Ambassador about his visit and pressed us on
explaining American efforts to export democracy to Belarus.
Ambassador stressed common democratic values that should be
shared by Americans and Belarusians alike and noted that
the U.S. supports the democratic process as the preferred
way for societies to resolve issues, not through violence,
revolution or intimidation. We doubt the state media will
show or print our replies as they are tools of the regime's
propaganda machine. Still, this visit and continued
engagement shows people in remote areas that the U.S. cares
about them and wishes to hear them. As the first
ambassadorial visit to Mozyr, we view this effort as a
success. In fact, a few of our interlocutors told
Ambassador that they have family members who visited the
U.S. and came back favorably impressed, as well as some who
remember U.S. support during WWII. These people seemed
genuinely proud the U.S. Ambassador came to visit their
locale. Moreover, we sensed the conflict they feel between
what they are told by their ideological controllers and
what they feel in their hearts.


KROL