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
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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
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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

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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

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power. Yablokov made a point of telling us that foreign
anti-globalists would not be invited to his event.
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HOPES FOR A ST. PETERSBURG MEETING WITH G7 LEADERS
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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?
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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
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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
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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