CANADA ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT RUSSIAN DRAFT NGO LAW

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 003540

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/29/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL CA RS
SUBJECT: CANADA ALSO CONCERNED ABOUT RUSSIAN DRAFT NGO LAW

REF: SECSTATE 212899

Classified By: Pol M/C Brian Flora Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (U) Polcons and Poloff delivered reftEl on 28 November
to Tom MacDonald, Director General of the Central, East and
South Europe Bureau and Gilles Breton, Deputy Director,
Eastern European Division at Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC). .


2. (C) According to MacDonald, the GoC shares many of the
USG concerns about the proposed NGO registration law and
plans to use current and upcoming visits by influential and
high ranking Russian officials to guide the outcome of the
debate. The GoC believes that it is particularly important
for Russia, as it assumes the presidency of the G-8 in
January 2006, to demonstrate its respect for the
organization's democratic values. MacDonald expects Russia
to follow examples from past G-8 Summits and organize a
parallel NGO conference. Accordingly, Russia cannot afford
to pass restrictive or capricious legislation that constrains
the activities of domestic or international organizations, if
it wants to take a leadership role in this regard. Canada,
through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA),
is providing technical assistance to Russia as it prepares
for the G-8 NGO conference. Last month, it hosted a group of
Russian journalists and more groups are scheduled to visit in
the near future. MacDonald said that, rather than getting
"too noisy publicly and pushing Russia into a corner," the
GoC plans to use these opportunities to encourage an open and
inclusive debate about NGO registration and to underline the
need for transparency in the process of drafting and amending
the proposed legislation.


3. (C) Sergey Mironov, President of the Federation Council,
is currently in Ottawa, hosted by the President of the
Senate, and MacDonald stated that Canada wil take this
opportunity to encourage NGO inclusion in the consulation
process. He said that Canada will share its own NGO
registration regulations as a working example but
acknowledged the sensitivity in Russia toward NGOs that are
perceived to cross the line from civil society promotion to
political interference. Breton said that Russia's historical
experience and culture make it overly sensitive, especially
as regards NGOs that receive funding from abroad to promote
democratic institution-building. Breton and MacDonald
thought that it would be counter-productive for foreign
governments to attempt to tell Russia which NGOs are
acceptable and which are not. Instead, Canada prefers to
encourage a consultative process.


4. (C) MacDonald related a recent conversation between a
FAC official visiting Russia and Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the
Presidential Council for Promoting Civil Society Institutions
and Civil Rights. Pamfilova, who also serves as the head of
the Russian branch of Transparency International, previously
came to Canada on a GoC exchange program and plans to visit
again in the coming months. She expressed less concern than
expected to the official about the potential limitations of
the proposed registration law. MacDonald himself expressed
cautious optimism following reports from Canada's Moscow
Embassy that described signs of flexibility shown by senior
Russian officials on amending the draft.

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WILKINS