REGIONAL OUTREACH TO GOMEL REGION HIGH, SUPERVISED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000608

SIPDIS

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV ECON PHUM BO
SUBJECT: REGIONAL OUTREACH TO GOMEL REGION HIGH, SUPERVISED
BUT HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL


MINSK 00000608 001.2 OF 003



1. (U) Summary: On June 1-2, Ambassador traveled to the
regional capital city Gomel and surrounding villages to
conduct public outreach. Opposition and civil society
representatives described the repressive conditions in which
they exist, but the civil society representatives also
criticized the democratic coalition for not involving them
more in recent elections. Authorities arranged meetings with
representatives of Gomel's free economic zone and tours of
the Gomel palace and war museum. Ambassador and Emboffs
visited a private farm in Dobrush and paid a visit to a Vetka
school where the Embassy donated computers. English teachers
and students at the Gomel regional library thanked the
Embassy for English-language materials donated to the
American Corners and asked about the FLEX program and summer
language courses in the U.S. Despite close supervision by
local activities, Embassy outreach to the Belarusian people
was not hindered. End Summary.

Authorities Welcome Ambassador
--------------


2. (SBU) On June 1, police met Ambassador, Protocol
Assistant, and POLOFF 60 kilometers outside of Gomel and,
"for security," escorted the Embassy vehicle to the Oblast'
Executive Committee (Oblispolkom) in downtown Gomel to meet
the head of the Oblast' Council of Ministers Valery Selitsky,
deputy head of the ideology department Yevgeny Mitkevich,
Gomel State University officials and Belarusian Republican
Youth Union (BRCM) representatives, and the state media.
Selitsky, who did most of the talking, bragged about Gomel's
GDP per capita surpassing Minsk's and the city's 10 percent
increase in overall industrial output last year. He admitted
the agriculture sector lagged behind in development, but was
improving and produced much of Belarus' meat and milk,
including for export to Russia and Ukraine. (Note: The Gomel
region is the most radioactive region in Belarus.) According
to Selitsky, Gomel was on the right path, but faced a
dwindling population and needed more investment.


3. (SBU) Siletsky claimed Gomel authorities had a dialogue
with the local opposition, who were able to meet supporters
without harassment. However, he proceeded to chastise
opposition activists, calling them "political businessmen"
who made a good living off foreign funding. He further
stated that 90 percent of the region's electorate voted for
Lukashenko on Election Day because they had jobs, medical
care, housing and, most importantly, lived in a stable
country without war. According to Siletsky, people were more
concerned with economics than politics.

Free Economic Zone
--------------


4. (U) Mitkevich and the local state media accompanied
Ambassador and Emboffs to Gomel's Free Economic Zone (FEZ)
"Raton," which comprises 35 industries totaling USD 120
million in investment-60 million of which was foreign capital
from 19 countries, mainly Germany, Switzerland,
Liechtenstein, and Russia. Ninety percent of the FEZ' output
is exported, despite large domestic demand, and the companies
reinvest their profits in the Gomel region rather than
sending it abroad. Director of the FEZ Aleksandr Skvortsov
told Ambassador 31 people worked for his organization, which
has in the last five years exceeded its assigned goals.
According to Skvortsov, the FEZ and local authorities had
eliminated much red tape for the companies, including
problems with the registration process. He doubted a rise in
energy prices would have an affecton production, although
transportation costs accunted for much of companies'
expenditures. Skvotsov claimed the government did not
interfere wit companies' activities.

Cultural Stops
--------------


5. (U) Ambassador visited the Gomel regonal library to
donate English language material to the American Corners
located there. Ambassaor spoke to a group of approximately
35 English lnguage students and teachers (Note: We
understan the Gomel governor rejected our request for theAmbassador to speak to students at the local univesity. The
university rector privately apologize for this.) The
teachers thanked the Embassy forproviding teaching material
that presented authetic English they otherwise had no access
to. One teacher showed interest n possible summer programs
in the U.S. for Belarusian English teachers an a FLEX
alumnus thanked the Embassy for giving her the chance to
study in the U.S. and asked Ambassador to ensure more
students had the same opportunity. Ambassador noted the U.S.

MINSK 00000608 002.2 OF 003


would do all it can to keep exchanges-but the GOB has not
been helpful on this score.


6. (SBU) Gomel authorities arranged a tour of the new "Museum
of War Glory," which contains displays of weapons from
ancient Belarus, relics of WWI and WWII, and modern weapons
and technology. At one point in the tour, the guide showed
Ambassador a map of the Stalin Line and explained how during
operation Barbarosa, this "line of defense" halted the Nazi
invasion and forced the Germans to proceed north and south
rather than directly east. (Note: In 2005, Lukashenko spent a
fortune renovating the defense line, which was all but out of
commission by the time WWII began. He created a fictitious
history around its "heroic defense" of the Soviet Union
during the Nazi invasion (reftel).) The director
embarrassingly agreed when Ambassador related what he
understood to be the uselessness of the "Stalin Line."

What Dialogue With Opposition Parties?
--------------


7. (SBU) Without local supervision, Ambassador met with the
regional head of opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr
Milinkevich's campaign team, Vladimir Katsora, and two
colleagues. Katsora noted problems working with other local
parties and criticized efforts to hold another Congress of
Democratic Forces, claiming that such discussions were
wasting precious time. He laughed when Ambassador relayed
Selitsky's statement that authorities did not harass the
opposition. Katsora has been arrested twice this year, the
last time for participating in an unsanctioned rally that had
not yet taken place. Youth activists were constantly being
arrested and others were losing their jobs. Katsora said his
mission was to help those repressed, preserve the opposition,
and mobilize the people. However, this would be difficult
with their lack of resources and the lack of optimism among
the population. Local TV positioned outside the meeting
place queried Ambassador why he was there. Ambassador noted
he wanted to h
ear the views of Belarusian citizens and encouraged the media
to cover these views as well. Ambassador stressed the U.S.
supports peaceful democratic means for societies to work out
their rightful and natural political differences.

NGOs
--------------


8. (SBU) Ambassador and POLOFF had supper with civil society
activists, who too complained about lack of dialogue with
local authorities. Their largest criticism, however, was
directed at Western NGO financers for supporting "show" NGOs
that spend most of their time traveling to foreign
conferences. Although gaining international recognition was
fine, more attention and funding needed to be spent on
building and supporting grassroots networks that were more
accessible to the people. These activists, who represented
women's rights, justice, and health organizations complained
that while they had successfully collected signatures for the
last presidential campaign, the democratic coalition did not
engage them in further election activities, although they
were prepared to do more for the campaign.

Time On The Farm
--------------


9. (U) On June 2, Ambassador and Emboffs visited a private
farm in Dobrush, just outside of Gomel, where farm owner
Saveliy Balabolov and his family gave a tour of their
homestead. Saveliy, looking uncomfortable in an old suit
that he probably rarely wore, showed off his tractors and
combines, explaining that new GOB subsidies and loan programs
made it easier to purchase needed equipment. Though not as
technologically advanced or as large as the typical farm in
the U.S., Saveliy seemed to be running an efficient
enterprise that resembled much of what would be seen in the
American heartland. At first Saveliy seemed nervous about
having such company, which included Mitkevich and
journalists, but relaxed after Ambassador showed interest in
seeing his swine operation. Inside the swine barn,
Saveliy-regardless of his suit-climbed into the pen and
slapped a sow out of its slumber to show Ambassador her size.
He proceeded to show his grain mill and started cursing
about the price of new equipment that worked ju
st as well as the antiquated equipment he used.

A Trip To Vetka
--------------


10. (U) The next stop was a small village called Vetka, known

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for its school of historic "old Belarusian" iconography, its
traditional embroidered cloth called "rushniki," and the high
radioactive fallout it received after the Chernobyl tragedy.
Ambassador and Emboffs met the director of grammar school No.
2 Svetlana Biran, other school administrators, and several
students. Biran appreciated the two computers the Embassy
donated and hosted Ambassador and Emboffs to tea and student
presentations. Two students sang modern Russian pop songs
and a dozen younger students spoke, in English, about the
geography and history of the U.S. When away from Mitkevich's
supervision, Biran told Ambassador about Vetka's poor
economic standing and how the good doctors, teachers, and
educated elite had moved away. Many students suffered from
alcoholic parents and/or abuse and she ridiculed the Soviet
model of education had more minuses than pluses.
Interestingly, Biran had just returned from a trip to Germany
where she ha
d met with local teachers-an exchange that had no government
involvement and developed after meeting some German teachers
who had came to Belarus to provide humanitarian aid.

A Village Tragedy
--------------


11. (U) On the way back to Minsk, Ambassador visited the site
of several country estates of the former local nobility
located in villages near Gomel. Mitkevich insisted in
accompanying the Ambassador on these visits along with a
police escort and other local officials. In the village
Chervoni Bereg (Red Beach),the director of the local
agricultural institute showed Ambassador the site of a
monument being built in memory of the children killed by
Nazis in WWII. According to the director, Germans converted
the local mansion into a hospital for their wounded.
However, they were short of blood, and therefore, gathered
2,000 area children between the ages of 6 and 14 years,
drained them of blood, and threw their bodies in a pit near
the mansion. The mayor said this atrocity was common during
WWII, but Chervoni Bereg was the most infamous.

Comment
--------------


12. (SBU) During the visit to Vetka, Mitkevich took
Ambassador aside and complained about Ambassador "violating"
local hospitality by having meetings with people not
organized by the host government. He claimed he would have
been happy to organize meetings with the opposition as well
as with "other political parties." Ambassador thanked
Mitkevich for his offer of "hospitality," but stressed that a
guest also has a right to see what he would like in a
district freely. Also, Ambassador noted that if Mitkevich
wanted to organize a "roundtable" with local political
figures, he could have suggested it himself before the trip.
Furthermore, the Embassy had made no secret of the visit to
opposition party premises. Mitkevich backed off.
Interestingly, Ambassador's visits to rural historical sites
seemed a revelation to Mitkevich and even the police
escort-who left their vehicles to see the ruins of churches
and estates they never knew existed in their own backyard.
Privately they thanked Ambassador for showing
them a part of their own country and history previously
unknown to them. Lesson: outreach works!
Krol