Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05VILNIUS1287
2005-12-08 13:53:00
SECRET
Embassy Vilnius
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR COUNTERS ATTACKS ON LITHUANIA'S NGO

Tags:  PGOV ECON KPAO KNAR LH 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 VILNIUS 001287 

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR EUR/NB, EUR/PPD, INR/EUC, AND EUR/OHI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2015
TAGS: PGOV ECON KPAO KNAR LH
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR COUNTERS ATTACKS ON LITHUANIA'S NGO
COMMUNITY

REF: VILNIUS 1223

Classified By: PAO ANTHONY PAHIGIAN FOR REASON 1(b)

SUMMARY
-------

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 VILNIUS 001287

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR EUR/NB, EUR/PPD, INR/EUC, AND EUR/OHI

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2015
TAGS: PGOV ECON KPAO KNAR LH
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR COUNTERS ATTACKS ON LITHUANIA'S NGO
COMMUNITY

REF: VILNIUS 1223

Classified By: PAO ANTHONY PAHIGIAN FOR REASON 1(b)

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Respublika Group media outlets and Lithuanian
politicians continue to attack legitimate non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) in a seemingly coordinated campaign that
began November 8 (reftel). Ambassador Mull, responding
publicly to an inquiry from the Labor Party, defended USG
support for NGOs in Lithuania. He also censured the ruling
coalition's call for investigation of civil society
organizations in Lithuania. Several observers believe that
the campaign's architects emphasize the role of George Soros
in NGO financing because they expect it will keep the USG
silent. One high-level Foreign Ministry official noted that
political parties "who get Russian money are the most active
in this affair." We are encouraging leaders in the
Lithuanian and international community to reject this
dangerous campaign. End Summary.

PRESSING THE ATTACK
--------------


2. (SBU) Respublika Group's media attacks on civil society
NGOs and George Soros have continued unabated since November

8. The attacks began with a series on Soros depicting him as
a billionaire meddler with CIA ties who wants to undermine
political stability through manipulation of civil society.
The papers then began to tar with the same brush President
Adamkus and NGO leaders who have been involved with or funded
by Soros's Open Society Fund. (Tomkus is best known for his
series of anti-Semitic and homophobic articles in his
flagship daily Respublika in 2004, which begat international
condemnation and higher sales.)


3. (U) Over the last three weeks, several political parties
have begun to pile on. Members from each of the four parties
in the governing coalition (Labor, Social Democrats,
Peasant/New Democracy, and New Union) and the populist
Liberal Democrats requested that the Special Investigative
Service (STT) and the Lithuanian intelligence apparatus
investigate Soros's and the NGOs' activities in Lithuania.
STT Director Malakauskas declined, dismissing the charges as

politically motivated and unworthy of his agency's attention.
The Labor Party sent a letter to Ambassador Mull asking for
USG "confirmation" of NGO connivance against the Lithuanian
state, and told the press that it was awaiting our response.


AMBASSADOR DEFENDS CIVIL SOCIETY
--------------


4. (U) The Ambassador responded to Labor's public request
with a letter, released simultaneously to the press, that
emphasized:

-- the central role that civil society institutions play in
developing Lithuania's young democracy;
-- that our support for civil society supports those who
fight corruption, promote good governance, an independent
media, and active civil society; and
-- the need to promote civil society, not attack it.


5. (U) Ambassador Mull also used the occasion of a December 7
Human Rights Day commemoration to present, in front of the
media, a robust defense of the important role of NGOs in
promoting tolerance, free speech, transparency, and civil
society. Seimas Vice Chairman Gintaras Steponavicius, a
prominent member of the Liberal-Center opposition party,
appeared alongside the Ambassador on the panel to express his
own staunch support of civil society organizations in
Lithuania.

POPULISTS RESPOND TO AMBASSADOR
--------------


6. (U) Most major media published the Ambassador's letter
with little additional commentary. Respublika Group papers
were the predictable exception. Respublika ran a page two
headline entitled "U.S. Ambassador Conceals Support Given in
Lithuania." The accompanying article stated that the Embassy
failed to provide a detailed accounting of what George Soros
does with his money. Tabloid Vakaro Zinios, with the largest
circulation in the country, took a similar approach.
Nonetheless, they printed the Ambassador's letter.

7. (SBU) Labor Party MP Grauziniene said on December 7 that
she was dissatisfied with the formal responses of the State
Security Department, Special Investigations Service,
Financial Crimes Investigations Service, and Tax Inspectorate
to her request for an investigation. Commenting on the
Ambassador's letter, Labor Party MP Dangute Mikutiene said
"the letter received from the U.S. Embassy in Lithuania does
not show whether it represents the opinion of the Ambassador
or the official stance of U.S. federal institutions towards
the activity of George Soros." This was reported in
Respublika under the front-page headline "World of Soros" and
in Vakaro Zinios.

OTHER GROUPS SPEAK OUT FOR CIVIL SOCIETY
--------------


8. (U) Despite the continuing silence of most of the
Lithuanian political class, some Lithuanians are resisting
the campaign. More than 60 Lithuanian intellectuals issued
a statement to Respublika on November 30 condemning the
attack on civil society. They noted that Lithuanians have
run the local chapter of the Open Society Fund here since

1990. Organizer Irena Vesaite noted that while the articles
in Respublika could be ignored, the signatories could not
remain silent because several political parties had also
raised suspicions about civil society NGOs.


9. (U) Some columnists have also begun to challenge the
credibility of the anti-civil society argument, laying blame
on internal and foreign political interests. On December 7,
the daily Lietuvos Zinios said that such attacks should have
been anticipated in Lithuania "sooner or later." The author
noted the pressure Russia exerted on the National Endowment
for Democracy, Freedom House, and Soros-funded activities, as
it has in Georgia and Ukraine. He noted that Labor Party
leader Viktor Uspaskich criticized the Open Society Fund
while admitting he did not know what it did. Other press
reports have surfaced showing that Labor Party officials,
including Health Minister Padaiga, have personally received
Soros funds in their professional careers.


10. (U) Media Ethics Commission member Romas Gudaitis issued
a statement urging Respublika's publishers to quit inspiring
an atmosphere of hysteria in Lithuania, adding that Tomkus's
articles should be seen as "nothing more than a failure,
because there should be more analysis, more numbers, more
data to prove the point, not just abrasive epithets and blind
judgment of the many organizations and people Respublika does
not like."

PLAYING POLITICS WITH DEMOCRACY
--------------


11. (SBU) MPs from parties asking for investigation of the
Respublika accusations have told us that they expect the
campaign to die down after the holidays, leaving no permanent
damage to civil society. Presidential Foreign Policy advisor
Valteris Baliukonis told the Ambassador December 8 that
President Adamkus, who has made no comments on the issue so
far, did not plan to speak out. Baliukonis explained that
the President viewed the campaign as a desperate attempt by
Tomkus to revive Respublika's flagging business interests.


12. (S) Other informed observers are less sanguine. MFA
Political Director Zygimantas Pavilonis told the Ambassador
that he believes that the same parties who accept Russian
funds to advance that country's interests here were the ones
supporting the anti-NGO campaign. When queried, he named the
Liberal Democratic Party of deposed President Rolandas Paksas
and Uspaskich's Labor Party. Lithuanian intelligence sources
agree that the anti-NGO jeremiad has the hallmarks of a
Russia-financed influence campaign.


13. (C) Several observers theorize that the campaign's
fixation with Soros is designed to ensure that the USG stays
out of the dispute. Steponavicius, Pavilionis, and others
tell us that the campaign's originators seem to expect that
Soros's well-known antipathy for President Bush will dissuade
the USG from speaking out, leaving the field open for them to
attack the NGO community. (Labor's response to the
Ambassador's letter, which again emphasized questions about
Soros, is consistent with this view.)
NEXT STEPS
--------------


14. (SBU) The Embassy will continue to champion civil society
as this controversy plays out. We will encourage GOL
officials, prominent Lithuanians, the media, and the
international community to do so as well. In addition, we
recommend a strong statement by the Department in support of
civil society in the region.
MULL