CIVIL SOCIETY GEARS UP FOR THE G8 SUMMIT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 005998 SIPDIS SIPDIS NSC FOR SHERPA SHIRZAD AND COEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/22/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PINR RS SUBJECT: CIVIL SOCIETY GEARS UP FOR THE G8 SUMMIT REF: MOSCOW 2502 Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns. Reasons: 1.4 (B/D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Faced with the controversial new NGO law and other worrisome developments, independent civil society activists are looking to the G8 Summit as an opportunity to strengthen their positions or at least publicize their causes. Some are willing to take part in the official G8 event for NGOs, organized by presidential council on civil society head Ella Pamfilova, while others view that as "legitimizing Putin's policies" and risking cooptation. The main independent event will be the "Another Russia" forum, although some activists worry that its plan to include both opposition politicians and civil society activists is flawed. We offer the following description of the major civil society events currently in the works or under consideration as well as of the debates about them among independent activists. END SUMMARY. . THE KREMLIN-SPONSORED NGO EVENT -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The most significant official event involving civil society will be the so-called Civil G8, to be held in Moscow on July 3-4. Organized by Ella Pamfilova, Chair of the Presidential Council for Civil Society Institutions and Human Rights, it is to bring together some five hundred Russian and foreign NGOs to discuss the Summit's agenda items. At a May 31 press conference, Pamfilova noted that the event would also include a focus on human rights issues, including relations between NGOs and the authorities, migrants' rights, and human rights issues in the context of the war on terror. Pamfilova organized a preparatory event of the same name on March 9-10, which G8 Sherpa attended (reftel),which featured representatives of some three hundred NGOs from thirty countries. World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Russia head Igor Chestin recently told the Ambassador that President Putin was expected to speak on the July event's second day. Chestin was among those opposed to issuing a joint statement at the event's conclusion, although he favored announcing the conclusions reached at the Civil G8's roundtables. ¶3. (C) Just as with the March event, independent civil society activists have mixed views about whether to participate in the July Civil G8. Even many sharp critics of the Putin Administration believe they should take part. They see the event as giving them a forum to speak out against Kremlin policies, both to a domestic and above all a foreign NGO audience, and hope to attract considerable media coverage. Some among them also seek to lend implicit support to Pamfilova, whom they view as doing her best -- within the bounds of what is possible given her official position -- to help independent NGOs and represent their views to the Kremlin. Yuriy Dzhibladze of the Center for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, for instance, is among those currently engaged in planning the event, in which he plans to take part. Other activists, by contrast, firmly oppose participation, which they see as helping legitimize Kremlin policy toward civil society and view as a ploy to coopt independent NGOs. Some of those espousing that view, including For Human Rights NGO head Lev Ponomarev, acknowledge that they have not been invited to the Civil G8 but criticize anyone who accepts an invitation. Members of the Russian-Chechen Friendship Society have been harshly critical of those who agree to attend even as observers. ¶4. (SBU) As part of the G8 Summit preparations and in the run-up to the Civil G8, the New Eurasia Foundation, along with the Kennan Institute and others, is planning a June 29 experts meeting in Moscow about the relationship between civil liberties and the war on terrorism. It is to include some thirty experts from all the G8 countries. New Eurasia's Andrey Kortunov told us that the meeting is to be held under Pamfilova's general sponsorship, and that Pamfilova has pledged to convey the conclusions to the Sherpas and possibly to President Putin before the Summit. Human rights activist Tatyana Lokshina of the Demos Center told us she saw little hope that the meeting would affect the Summit agenda but believed that, at minimum, it would lay the groundwork for placing the issue on future G8 Summit agendas. . THE "ANOTHER RUSSIA" EVENT AND OTHER OPPOSITION PLANS -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Seeking to organize a major independent alternative to the Civil G8, many activists pressed to hold another of the Civic Forums that have taken place in recent years. Previously such events brought together opposition MOSCOW 00005998 002 OF 003 politicians and independent civil society activists, although they failed to unite the opposition camp, as some had hoped. By many accounts, their most important result was to show that independent civil society remains both vibrant, notably in the provinces, and determined to continue opposing Kremlin control. While activists saw these goals as justifying a Civic Forum right before the G8 Summit, some worried that having politicians participate could end up undercutting independent NGOs, which might be discredited by being associated with political squabbling and be seen as favoring opposition political causes, thus increasing the chances that the authorities would target them for harassment or closure. Debate also raged over whether to invite the whole spectrum of the opposition to Putin or limit the event to "democratic" forces (i.e., exclude leftist and nationalist oppositionists). ¶6. (C) In recent weeks, advocates of holding such an event won out, with Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alekseyeva's decision to support it being widely seen as pivotal. Calling it "Another Russia," organizers led by Alekseyeva, United Civil Front head Garri Kasparov and Indem's Georgiy Satarov are arranging to hold the Forum in Moscow on July 11-12. In a May 31 meeting, Kasparov told us plans are moving ahead, with some 350 participants expected, evenly divided among national-level figures, those from the regions and those from abroad. Kasparov said the event would be open to the entire spectrum of opposition figures, from right to left. Much of the funding would come from Russian sources, Kasparov said, while the National Endowment for Democracy and George Soros' Open Society Institute would fund foreigners' participation. Kasparov said that the organizers had succeeded in securing hotel space after initial difficulties, although he did not rule out new Kremlin attempts to keep the event from taking place. ¶7. (C) Kasparov predicted that virtually all the major democratic politicians, including former PM Mikhail Kasyanov and Yabloko head Grigoriy Yavlinskiy, would take part. Also among those participating would be the National Bolshevik Party, whose leader, Eduard Limonov, was expected to speak at a session devoted to political prisoners. The Rodina party would not be invited because of its association with ultra-nationalist causes, although former Rodina leader Sergey Glazyev was likely to take part, according to Kasparov. ¶8. (C) The decision to hold the "Another Russia" event dampened plans, supported by Lokshina, Open Russia head Irina Yasina and others, to hold a civil society event in Helsinki on July 17-19. Yasina and her colleagues had envisioned bringing together activists from throughout the world for an event that would have a broad international focus but with a heavy emphasis on the plight of Russia's beleaguered civil society. They had hoped that high-level officials of G8 countries would break off from the St. Petersburg Summit to attend. A dispirited Yasina told us on May 30 that the event was almost certain not to take place, primarily due to funding problems. ¶9. (C) Lokshina, along with Dzhibladze and others, are organizing a July 5 human rights event in Moscow. Lokshina told us June 5 that it had been planned to allow for human rights issues to get prominent attention if they are not fully addressed at Pamfilova's event of the two preceding days; organizers had considered holding the event on July 10 but had eventually opted for the earlier date, Lokshina said, in part to maintain some distance from the "Another Russia" event. Kasparov argued to us that the July 5 event was unnecessary and, by giving the impression that democratic activists cannot coordinate their activities, only served the Kremlin's interests. ¶10. (C) Other activists are planning their own events. For Human Rights NGO's Ponomarev told us he is seeking support to hold a "Russian Social Forum 2006" on July 14-15 in St. Petersburg. Like Ponomarev, the other organizers of that event, including some leftist youth organizers, take an uncompromising stance toward the Putin administration. Ponomarev has acknowledged to us, as well as to our UK and German colleagues, that the prospects of holding such an event in St. Petersburg as the G8 Summit gets underway are bleak, although he has also publicly suggested that activists would descend on that city for protest actions. Meanwhile, Green Party head Aleksandr Yablokov told us on May 31 that he is continuing with plans to hold an "alternative energy summit" for St. Petersburg on July 9-10, although he would not rule out that those plans will eventually be scuttled. That event is among several being planned by environmentalists to protest GOR plans to expand nuclear MOSCOW 00005998 003 OF 003 power. Yablokov made a point of telling us that foreign anti-globalists would not be invited to his event. . HOPES FOR A ST. PETERSBURG MEETING WITH G7 LEADERS -------------- -------------- ¶11. (C) Meanwhile, a number of activists hope to be able to meet with G7 leaders on the margins of the Summit. Dzhibladze told us May 31 that a meeting or reception at which the G7 leaders, ideally as a group, met with independent activists would send a strong signal of support, as well as highlighting concern with implementation of the NGO law. He said he would not oppose extending an invitation to President Putin to attend, although he was certain Putin would not accept. Dzhibladze said he had raised the issue most recently with the German government. Kasparov also said an event for activists with G7 leaders would be a major boost to the human rights cause. . AN EVENT FOR GLOBAL NGO LEADERS? -------------- ¶12. (C) The WWF's Chestin, when he met the Ambassador, discussed holding a summit of the leaders of some thirty of the top global NGO networks in St. Petersburg on July 13-14. Organizers set as criteria for participation that an NGO must work in at least fifty countries and represent at least one million members or supporters. Chestin indicated that the international heads of several such organizations, including WWF, Oxfam, Greenpeace and Amnesty International, had indicated their support. Given the prominence of the organizations' international heads, Chestin believed the GOR would issue them visas, and he hoped that President Putin and, if present, other G8 leaders would meet with such a group. Chestin told us May 31 that in a meeting a week earlier with G8 Sherpas, Russian Sherpa Igor Shuvalov had strongly opposed the idea. The organizers had subsequently scaled back their plans to include fewer NGOs, and had written letters to the heads of the G8 countries seeking support for the idea. Chestin expressed uncertainty whether that event would take place. . A RELIGIOUS SUMMIT -------------- ¶13. (SBU) Aside from the range of civil society activities, other events are being planned in the run-up to the Summit. Among the most noteworthy is a World Summit of Religious Leaders, to be held in Moscow on July 4-5. It is organized by the Inter-religious Councils of Russia and the CIS, with a heavy role for the Russian Orthodox Church. Contacts have told us that major religious leaders from throughout the world are likely to attend, with the Vatican delegation to be led by State Secretary Cardinal Sodano. . COMMENT -------------- ¶14. (C) The disarray and inability to unite around a common plan for independent civil society involving the G8 Summit parallels the long-standing inability of Russian "democrats" to coalesce into an effective opposition force. Many activists acknowledge that problem, at least privately, yet underscore that it should not significantly detract from events that will send a strong signal about the vibrancy of Russia's civil society. BURNS