Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MOSCOW11539
2006-10-13 14:46:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:  

RUSSIA-GEORGIA UPDATE

Tags:  PREL PGOV PHUM PREF GG RS 
pdf how-to read a cable
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OO RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #1539/01 2861446
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O 131446Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3897
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 011539 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF GG RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA-GEORGIA UPDATE

REF: MOSCOW 11489

Classified By: Charge Daniel A. Russell. Reasons: 1.4(B/D).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 011539

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/13/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM PREF GG RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA-GEORGIA UPDATE

REF: MOSCOW 11489

Classified By: Charge Daniel A. Russell. Reasons: 1.4(B/D).


1. (C) Summary: Arrests and deportations of Georgians
accused of violating immigrations laws continue, but no new
measures have been enacted against Georgia or against ethnic
Georgians living in Russia. No reliable numbers are
available for the number of Georgians found not to have legal
status in Russia, although in Moscow alone almost 600
detainees have been ordered expelled. The actual deportation
process is occurring at an accelerated pace and may lack
legal safeguards. Meanwhile, the Federation Council ratified
a military bases withdrawal agreement with Georgia which is
required to implement the 2005 political agreement between
Moscow and Tbilisi to withdraw Russian forces from bases in
Georgia. End Summary.
.
Profiles in Courage
--------------


2. (C) Elected officials and other public figures remain
hesitant to condemn the discriminatory treatment of ethnic
Georgians in Russia. Among the exceptions has been a group
of human rights activists, including Moscow Helsinki Group's
Lyudmila Alekseyeva and Yelena Bonner, who signed a petition
criticizing official moves against Georgia and Georgians and
calling on officials not to promote war with Tbilisi. In a
letter to religious students, Patriarch Aleksey II stressed
that no person could break up "the Russian-Georgian spiritual
community" which has a shared history and culture. A Public
Chamber member, who heads the anti-corruption subcommittee
and has held hearings on the dangers of the gaming business,
told us that while Georgian-owned casinos had criminal links,
the Public Chamber would not condone an ethnicity-driven
approach to a serious socio-economic issue.
.
Saakashvili Not Yet PNG'ed
--------------


3. (C) Legislation that would declare Saakashvili, Georgian
MOD Okruashvili and Interior Minister Merabishvili to be
persona non grata in Russia and would bar their presence or
transit through Russian territory remained stalled in the
Duma. The declaration's sponsor, Konstantin Zatulin, who

chairs the CIS Committee, reluctantly agreed to return the
declaration for a rewrite after some Duma members complained
that the text had been drafted in haste and had not been
vetted by the Committee. We heard from a Duma staffer that
the legislation might be reintroduced by next Wednesday. The
declaration apparently does regret "excessive measures" that
had been taken against some Georgians by law enforcement
officers.
.
Military Bases Withdrawal Agreement Ratified
--------------


4. (SBU) Despite the sharp deterioration in the bilateral
relationship, the Federation Council ratified two
Russian-Georgian agreements on October 13 that give official
sanction to the bases withdrawal agreement reached between
Tbilisi and Moscow in 2005. The Duma had ratified the
agreement last week. Withdrawals of military equipment and
forces had begun last year under cover of a political joint
statement, but the bilateral agreement was legally required
to authorize expenditures of funds. However, statements
about the agreement either viewed the withdrawal as a loss to
Russia or welcomed the move as reducing the number of
"hostages" Georgia could hold in the event of a continued
deterioration in the relationship.
.
Expulsions By the Numbers
--------------


5. (C) We are working to assemble a more complete picture
of the scale of deportations, but hard-and-fast numbers are
difficult to come by. A spokesperson for the Moscow courts
announced late on October 12 that over the past week the
courts have issued administrative expulsion rulings against
598 Georgian citizens, 21 cases had been remanded for further
investigation, and two cases had been dismissed. This number
included 218 expulsion orders based on a violations of
migration legislation on Thursday. Official figures are not
available for other jurisdictions. Georgian Embassy
Political Counselor George Karalashvili told us that his
Embassy was aware of 110 Georgians in detention in Moscow, 42
in St. Petersburg, and over 30 in the Moscow Oblast. Some of
these detainees may have already been ordered to be deported
and are awaiting transport. An October 14 flight that was to
have carried over 100 detainees was canceled, and
Karalashvili told us that the flight might now go to Yerevan,
with land transport to be provided by the Georgian government

MOSCOW 00011539 002 OF 002


to Tbilisi.


6. (C) Russian NGO Civic Assistance Chair Svetlana
Gannushkina told us that no one has been able to get reliable
statistics on the number of Georgians detained, but said her
NGO had counted dozens of cases daily. On October 9, it had
recorded 72 cases of Georgians being detained. Conditions in
detention centers were typically miserable for Russia, with
detainees depending on family and friends to supplement the
meager rations they received. Civic Assistance had also
documented cases of detained Georgians, who were, in fact,
legally in Russia. Within the GOR there were few who would
question the policy, she said, although Human Rights
Ombudsman Lukin and Ella Pamfilova, chair of the Commission
on Human Rights and Development of Civil Society, were
trying.


7. (C) Zurab Koberidze, the country director for the
U.S.-based NGO International Medical Committee and an ethnic
Georgian with Tajik citizenship, told us he was keeping a low
profile. Authorities had renewed his registration in Russia
last week without any problems, but while recently boarding a
flight from North Ossetia to Moscow, he was questioned about
his status in the country. Police told him they had been
ordered to question ethnic Georgians about their visa status.
Koberidze told us that he was concerned enough about the
current atmosphere to ask officials at the Federal
Registration Service whether his ethnicity might affect the
NGO's application for re-registration. They assured him it
would not.
.
Deportation 101
--------------


8. (C) The actual deportation process at work here appears
to be conducted at an accelerated pace. UNHCR Senior
Protection Officer Gang Li told us that no Georgians have
approached UNHCR for protection from deportation. Li said in
deportation cases where UNHCR has been involved, defendants
had the right to legal representation and to appeal the
deportation order in the court system. In most cases, it
took two to three months before someone was deported, and he
was unsure on what legal basis the GOR was undertaking
immediate deportations. Although UNHCR had no direct
involvement, it was watching the situation closely in case it
evolved into a broader campaign against other ethnic
minorities, including asylum seekers and refugees, Li said.


9. (C) An entirely different view of the process was
provided by a major in the Moscow Police Criminal
Investigation Department, who told us that the police were
processing these cases as violations of the section of the
Russian Administrative Code regulating legal status in
Russia. The detective said that in deportation cases, the
detainee could be held for up to 48 hours before being
produced in court. During this time, the police would obtain
evidence about the person's legal status. The detainee would
be given a closed, administrative hearing by a district court
judge that would typically last less than 15 minutes. If the
judge found that the person lacked legal status, the detainee
would be remanded to a holding facility, where the detainee
would usually be kept no more than one week before
deportation. The police major was not aware of appeals being
lodged by Georgian detainees. The Georgian Embassy had heard
from some detainees that they did not want to fight the
expulsion order and wanted to return to Tbilisi. At the same
time, Karalashvili said that legal safeguards such as counsel
and interpretation have not always been provided.
RUSSELL