RUSSIAN NGO LAW - THE ART IS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L OTTAWA 003650

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL CA RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN NGO LAW - THE ART IS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION

REF: A. (A) SECSTATE 222292

B. (B) OTTAWA 222292

Classified By: POLMINCOUNS Brian Flora, Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (U) Poloff delivered reftel to Gilles Breton, Deputy
Director of the Eastern Europe and Balkans Division at
Foreign Affairs Canada (FAC).


2. (C) Breton emphasized that, since our last discussion
(reftel B),Vladimir Lukin, the Russian Parliament's
ombudsman for human rights issues, has stated that
international agreements, including the Council of Europe
legislation and the European Convention on Human Rights, take
precedence over Russian law. According to Breton, this
concept is enshrined in the 1993 Russian constitution and,
while the upcoming NGO law may not conform with the North
American notion of unqualified freedom of expression, for
instance, the debate in Europe about whether this right and
others like freedom of assembly or freedom of association has
been a long and constructive one, even if the conclusions
result in different interpretations from those in North
America. Breton assured poloff that these European and North
American differences in the legal debate will continue and
that it appears that some Russian decision makers are engaged
in the same debate.


3. (C) More important for Canada, according to Breton, is
the way in which Russia chooses to implement and enforce the
current NGO draft law. The GoC is watching Russia's
decisions to permit or limit international funding for NGOs
that work on civil society issues and that must balance
democracy promotion with perceived meddling in Russia's
internal political process. Referring to sentiments
expressed by Nikolas K. Gvosdev, the editor of "The National
Interest" in a December 8 International Herald Tribune
article entitled "Russia's NGOs: It's Not So Simple," Breton
said that the challenge lies in the interpretation and
application of the law. Will it be a narrow interpretation
that facilitates NGOs ability to spread their democratic
message or a broad interpretation that unfairly restricts
their activities, damages democratizing Russia's human rights
reputation and raises practical concerns for the GoC as well
as other international partners? Ultimately, said Breton,
the resolution may be left up to the courts.


4. (C) Comment: The GoC is likely to focus its efforts on
influencing the debate over the implementation of the Russian
NGO law -- not the various iterations during the legislative
process. The GoC views the Canadian-Russian dialogue in the
run-up to the NGO meetings on the margins of the G-8 summit
as the more effective avenue for encouraging a limited
application of the law. Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the
Presidential Council for Promoting Civil Society Institutions
and Civl Rights and head of the Russian branch of
Transparency International, is expected to lead a group of
media professionals from the President's office to Canada in
the coming months. The acknowledgement that European law
legally supercedes Russian law gives the GoC reason to
believe that Russian decision makers are focusing on
appropriate considerations as they move toward the second
reading of this draft law.

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WILKINS