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