GOR ENFORCES NGO REGISTRATION DEADLINE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 010842

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/RUS, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2016
TAGS: PGOV PHUM EAID PREF KDEM PREL RS
SUBJECT: GOR ENFORCES NGO REGISTRATION DEADLINE

REF: MOSCOW 9565

Classified By: AMBASSADOR WILLIAM J. BURNS. REASONS: 1.4 (B) AND (D).


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Summary
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1. (C) Russian Federal Registration Service officials have
clarified that foreign NGOs that have not been re-registered
by October 18 will have to stop their external activities,
but will be able to continue "internal operations." NGOs are
hurrying to submit their paperwork, but according to
registration service data and our own informal poll, very few
have done so. Although some have benefitted from individual
consultations with the Federal Registration Service, NGO
representatives complain that they are being forced to
prepare huge packages of "unnecessary documents," which can
be filed only once a week. Those that have submitted
successfully have usually had to correct minor technical
problems identified by the registration service before
applications are formally accepted. Ambassador continue to
press senior officials to avoid any suspension of NGO
external activities, given the complexities of the
registration process. We are also urging US-based NGOs to
submit their applications before the end of September. END
SUMMARY.

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September 20 Meeting with Zhafyarov
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2. (C) In a September 20 meeting with the Mission, Federal
Registration Service (FRS) Chief of the Directorate of
Political Parties, Non-Governmental, Regional, and Other
Organizations Aleksey Zhafyarov clarified comments made by
FRS Director Movchan in an August 30 meeting with Ambassador
(reftel). (In that meeting, Movchan had said those NGOs that
make a good-faith effort to be registered by October 18 would
be issued a voucher that would allow them to continue to
operate beyond October 18 while their registration process
continued. According to Zhafyarov, those NGOs not registered
by October 18 would only be permitted to conduct "internal
activities" until all of the registration requirements of the
NGO law were met. By "internal activities," he meant
operations necessary to keep the office running, like paying
electricity bills and keeping staff on the payroll.


3. (C) Zhafyarov suggested that "no one in the Russian
government" would actively attempt to shutter or close bank
accounts of unregistered NGOs that continue operating after
the October 18 deadline, but the FRS was in no position to
offer written assurance to that effect. Zhafyarov added
that, "of course," it was possible that landlords and banks
might be uncomfortable working with unregistered NGOs. We
note that Zhafyarov had initially announced that NGOs would
have to suspend activities at an AmCham forum September 14.
His deputy Anatoliy Panchenko made similar statements in a
separate public session with NGOs on September 19.


4. (C) Zhafyarov said he wanted to debunk the "myths" that
if documents were rejected twice it would not be possible to
apply again, and that no documents would be accepted after
October 18. Neither are true, he said. The FRS will continue
to accept applications after the October 18 deadline and has
one month to check the documents and include the organization
into the Registry but he said, in practice, within 2-7 days
the organization could expect a call from the FRS to discuss
the application documents.


5. (C) Zhafyarov mentioned that each foreign NGO was
entitled to register one and only one branch or
representative office in Russia, insisting that this is what
the new NGO law requires, and challenged any applicant to
raise the issue in court. He expressed his assurance that
any court would side with the FRS interpretation, but would
abide by any court decision to the contrary. According to
Zhafyarov, representative offices and branches are allowed to
open "small offices" in the regions, and with a power of
attorney, sign lease agreements and be able to function in
the regions, but they need to register with the local tax
service as "special branch offices."


6. (C) Zhafyarov said a working group will be meeting next
week to develop instructions on what kind of information has
to be included in the annual/quarterly and periodic reports
required under the new law. The working group will consist
of representatives from the Public Chamber, Ella Pamfilov's
Presidential Commission on Human Rights and Civil Society,

MOSCOW 00010842 002 OF 003


and the Tax Service. He said their recommendations would be
in place by mid- to late October.


7. (C) We reviewed Zhafyarov the process by which NGOs are
registered in the U.S. Zhafyarov seemed satisfied with the
information, and agreed that the FRS would, as part of its
effort to clarify the registration process, begin to post on
its website authoritative answers to questions it was
receiving from NGOs. He stressed that it would be a good
idea to put English translations of the NGO law, regulations,
and forms on the FRS website to avoid confusion. Zhafyarov
urged interested U.S. organizations to collect questions from
NGO representatives and e-mail them to the FRS website.

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September 21 One-On-One Sessions At FRS
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8. (C) FRS has made some efforts to address NGO concerns
about the difficulty in obtaining authoritative information.
FRS now offers consultations three days a week and has also
made staff available for Q&A sessions organized by others,
such as AmCham. AmCham staff told us that only eight NGOs
participated in the one-on-one sessions it organized at the
FRS. They were somewhat disappointed at the
lower-than-expected turnout.


9. (C) IRI told us on September 20 that it had planned to
attend the session, but having received the application
documents from their headquarters in the U.S., noticed a
mistake and decided to fix it before submitting its
application on September 25.

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The Scorecard
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10. (C) As of September 19, only 28 foreign NGOs had been
re-registered out of approximately 500, and 98 had applied.
NGOs such as Ford Foundation, AmCham, Human Rights Watch,
Carnegie Center, Amnesty International, and Doctors Without
Borders still had not submitted their applications but expect
to submit them shortly. Although some have benefitted from
individual consultations with the Federal Registration
Service, NGO representatives continue to complain that they
are being forced to prepare huge packages of "unnecessary
documents."


11. (C) The FRS's "clarification" that foreign NGOs would
have to be registered by the deadline or suspend their
programs caught many off guard. Several we have spoken to
had been advised by FRS personnel that as long as their
applications had been accepted by the deadline, they could
continue working; therefore they assumed they could submit up
until October 18. Those NGOs are now scrambling to submit
their applications as soon as possible, since the FRS can
take up to 30 days to render its decision. In canvassing 38
U.S.-based NGOs receiving USG funding, we found two --
International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Project Harmony --
whose applications have been accepted by the Federal
Registration Service. Another 12 implementing
U.S.Government-funded projects, among them NDI, IRI,
ACDI/VOCA and World Vision, intend to submit their
applications by the end of September, as do AmCham, Ford
Foundation, Carnegie Center, and Human Rights Watch. A
handful of others expected to apply in October, closer to the
deadline, when they received the documents from their
headquarters necessary to complete their applications.


12. (C) Although the registration service has taken steps to
be more transparent and helpful, such as agreeing to the
one-on-one sessions, NGO representatives told us that
frustrations with the FRS bureaucracy continued. Despite the
expanded consultation hours, the FRS continues to accept
applications only on Wednesdays during a three-hour period.
IRC Country Director Amir Omanovich said IRC's application
was meticulously reviewed by FRS staff when it was submitted;
then returned for minor wording changes. These changes
required the packet to be sent to IRC's New York headquarters
via courier so it could be corrected, re-notarized and
re-apostilled before being re-submitted. Kharborovsk-based
Winrock International submitted its documents to the FRS via
courier on September 13. A week later, the FRS called,
saying the packet needed corrections and recommended that
someone from Winrock make the seven-hour flight to Moscow to
pick it up and then fly back to Moscow to re-submit it once
corrections were made.


13. (C) Carnegie's Rose Gottemoeller told us that the
Center's staff was confident their documents package would be

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approved, based on consultations with the FRS over the last
several weeks. Carnegie will submit its documents this week,
after finding and notarizing founding documents from the N.Y.
archives, certifying death certificates of original board
members, and proving that Carnegie has a D.C.-based parent
organization. Gottemoeller was unaware of the possibility of
a suspension of programming after October 18 which, she said
would be a major blow to her organization. She noted that a
consulting company "4 Business" was advertising assistance in
completing the registration process for ten thousand Euros.


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Comment
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14. (C) Zhafyarov's interpretation of the law, which was
buttressed by an "informational communique" issued by the FRS
September 20, is less compromising than that offered the
Ambassador by Movchan and would leave those foreign NGOs not
registered by October 18 unable to continue with programs
underway until formally registered by the FRS. (The
communique also explicitly prohibits funding from
non-registered foreign NGOs to Russian NGOs.) The FRS's
timing of its clarification is less than ideal. With the FRS
allowed up to thirty days to review applications, NGOs that
did not apply by September 19 face a greater likelihood of
having to suspend their activities an FRS decision is not
made by October 18, or if the FRS finds significant problems
with the application during its review. As noted (septel),
Ambassador raised this looming problem with Human Rights
Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin September 22, underscoring that
western reaction would view this as further GOR suppression
of civil society. Lukin agreed to intervene if his office
received a formal, written complaint from the affected NGOs
which they may be unwilling to do, as they are leery of
potential GOR attention to their individual cases.
Ambassador will bring the FRS's interpretation to the
attention of Presidential Commission on Human Rights and
Civil Society Director Pamfilova and DFM Yakovenko the week
of September 25
BURNS