UKRAINE: HIGH-PROFILE RUSSIANS BANNED ENTRY INTO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 004301

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL ASEC PINR RS UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: HIGH-PROFILE RUSSIANS BANNED ENTRY INTO
UKRAINE

Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon, reason 1.5 (b,d)


1. (SBU) Chief of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) Ihor
Drizhchany told journalists November 6 that the SBU had
blacklisted 131 foreigners thus far in 2006 for "activities
damaging national security interests." When we inquired, an
SBU official advised that the SBU does not release names of
individuals on the list unless the individuals themselves
publicize their status. The most often cited cases have
involved Russian citizens, known to have been involved in
overt calls threatening the territorial integrity of Ukraine,
usually focused on Crimea, often made while in Crimea.


2. (C) MFA First Territorial Department (responsible for
relations with Russia) Counselor Oleksandr Kushnir told us
November 16 that the issue of banned Russians was raised by
Russian officials during FM Lavrov's November 7-8 visit to
Kyiv. Ukrainian officials emphasized they had responded in
accordance with domestic legislation and international norms
and standards. Ukraine had the right to refuse entry to
anyone with a record of violating Ukrainian law and
disrupting internal security. They suggested that the
Russian government advise its citizens that denial of entry
into a country was a potential consequences of inappropriate
or illegal activity. Kushnir said, while MFA is consulted,
the SBU has the final authority on persons to be banned from
entry.


3. (C) Comment: The Ukrainian step to ban entry of certain
individuals might be more of a public relations move designed
to convey Ukrainian government displeasure rather than an
effective measure to block the entry of Russians across the
porous Ukraine-Russia border. For example, we saw putatively
banned Russian Duma member Konstantin Zatulin at the
Ukrainian parliament (Rada) during the week of November 6.
Some actions, such as the deportation of Aleksey Dobychin and
the presumed cancellation of his right to residence in
Sevastopol, and the turning away of several Russians at the
airport, like Kiril Frolov, would have a more direct impact
on the individuals concerned.


4. (U) The following is open source information that we have
gathered on a number of well-known Russians who have been
banned entry into Ukraine, mostly for their anti-Ukrainian
activities and statements.


A. Vladmir Zhirinovsky, Vice Speaker of the Russian
State Duma, was banned from entry into Ukraine in June 2006.
Press reports indicated that Zhirinovsky made numerous
negative statements regarding Ukrainian sovereignty vis-a-vis
Russia. Additionally, he stated that he hoped Ukraine would
become a member of NATO so that Ukrainian soldiers would come
back from Iraq in coffins. Our open source searches
indicated that Zhirinovsky was also banned from entering
Turkey and Kazakhstan.


B. Konstantin Zatulin, Russian State Duma member, was
banned from entry into Ukraine on June 3, 2006, by the SBU.
According to press reports, the SBU stated that his
"activities set the ground for illegal actions related to
attempts (to weaken) Ukraine's territorial integrity and
instigation of ethnic hatred." Apparently, the specific
reason behind the SBU's decision to ban Zatulin was based on
his participation in the protest actions against the joint
U.S.-Ukrainian military exercise in Feodosiya (SEA BREEZE)
this summer. The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
publicly condemned the SBU decision to blacklist him, calling
it a "serious and unfriendly act toward a State Duma member a
well-known political analyst, and a proponent of friendly
relations between Ukraine and Russia." Furthermore, on
November 30 the Kyiv Court of Appeals will consider his
appeal of the SBU decision to ban his entry. Media reports
indicate that the Shevchenkivsky Court in Kyiv had earlier
upheld the June 2006 SBU decision. Additionally, Zatulin is
also head of the Russian Institute of CIS Countries.


C. Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov was banned in 2004 after
he took part in a notorious separatist congress in
Severodonetsk (Luhansk region) in November 2004 at the height
of the Orange Revolution. This gathering reportedly
supported the idea of a Southeastern Autonomous Republic in
Ukraine.


D. ORT journalist Mikhail Leontyev was also banned from
entry to Ukraine in early 2006. He made several derogatory
remarks about the sovereignty of Ukraine, stating that
Ukraine does not exist as a country and is not a separate
nation. Since 2001, he also made several negative remarks
about President Viktor Yushchenko and his wife Kateryna
Chumachenko, who later sued him.

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E. Kiril Frolov, a Russian political scientist and head
of the Ukraine Department at the Russian Institute of CIS
Countries (under Zatulin),was detained in Simferopol Airport
on January 27, 2006, and sent back to Russia for allegedly
propagating separatist ideals among the Crimean population.
Frolov complained about his inclusion on the blacklist,
claiming that it was repression and violated the treaty
between Russia and Ukraine on free border crossings.


F. Eduard Limonov, Chairman of the Russian
National-Bolshevisk Party, was banned entry to Ukraine until

2008. In 1999, Limonov and his fellow party members climbed
on the roof of the Sailor's Club in Sevastopol, raised a
Russian flag, and proclaimed Sevastopol a Russian city.
During this incident he also distributed leaflets from the
top of the building, demanding to make Sevastopol a Russian
city.


G. Aleksey Dobychin, leader of the pro-Russian Proryv
Movement, who had resided in Sevastopol for several years,
was deported to Moscow on June 23, 2006. The SBU accused him
of anti-Ukrainian activities. In mid-January 2006, he led a
publicity stunt for Russian TV in which Proryv activists
blocked the main road out of Crimea, dug a symbolic trench,
and declared independence. He was also reportedly involved
in the May-June SEA BREEZE protests in Feodosiya.


H. Gleb Pavlovsky, a Russian political scientist famous
for his anti-Ukraine rhetoric and who served as the chief
strategist for Yanukovych's failed 2004 presidential bid, was
recently banned from entry into Ukraine. Press reports
indicated the Ukrainian MFA did not understand why the
Russian MFA would be troubled by Ukraine's decision to put
him on the blacklist and stated that Pavlovsky had "crossed
the line separating political consultations from interference
in the domestic affairs of a foreign country." A group of
five political scientists published an open letter protesting
the ban on Pavlovsky's entry. The letter said, "We may not
share the views and assessments of our Russian colleague,
furthermore some of us absolutely reject them, but we regard
the ban,... as a dangerous precedent and an offense against
the basice principles of democracy, freedom of speech, and
human rights." The letter was signed by Kost Bondarenko,
Andriy Yermolaev, Rostislav Ischenko, Vadym Karasiov,
Volodymyr Malinkevych, Mykhailo Pohrebysnsky, and Volodymyr
Fesenko. The Ukrainian government later noted it allowed
Pavlovsky to enter Ukraine for one day to solve unnamed
family problems.


5. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kyiv.
Taylor