GOR REITERATES REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREIGNERS' ACCESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 008024

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL PREF EAID PGOV RS
SUBJECT: GOR REITERATES REQUIREMENTS FOR FOREIGNERS' ACCESS
TO CHECHNYA

REF: MOSCOW 6390

Classified By: A/POL Colin Cleary. Reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: On June 2, Russian security forces issued
revised requirements for foreign NGO workers, reporters, and
diplomats seeking access to Chechnya. While our contacts
acknowledged that they raised the potential for tighter
restrictions on NGOs working in the region, they reported
that their operations were continuing normally for the
moment. With two exceptions, the new guidelines reiterate
what have been standard operating procedures and clarify
contradictory statements issued by federal and Chechen
authorities. END SUMMARY.
.
MORE OF THE SAME
--------------


2. (C) The GOR issued revised requirements for NGOs and
others working in Chechnya June 2. Signed by Deputy Internal
Affairs Minister Colonel-General Yedelev, the document
contains slight changes to the procedures that have governed
foreigners' access to Chechnya since 2001, when the UN and
the GOR signed a letter of understanding on humanitarian aid
distribution in Chechnya. Generally, NGOs, UN expatriate
staff, and other foreigners, including U.S. and other
diplomats, seeking access to Chechnya must provide advance
notice of their plans to the Military Commandant in Chechnya,
who in turn coordinates these requests with the Federal
Security Service (FSB),and the Chechen Administration.
These requests must contain the names and other biographic
information, license numbers of vehicles, and detailed
itineraries of activities in the republic. Previously, this
information was only required for non-Russian citizens, but
they now also apply to local staff of NGOs or other aid
organizations. Additionally, the new requirements extend the
time period for advance notice to ten days from the previous
five.


3. (C) Our UN and NGO contacts said the release of these
requirements did not substantially change procedures already
in place. Steven Tull, head of the UN Office for
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Russia (OCHA),told
us OCHA had not had any recent complaints about access from
NGOS working in the North Caucasus. CARE Canada Country
Director Frans Barnard, who occasionally overnights in
Groznyy, said that the changes were workable; their effect
would largely depend on how authorities' chose to enforce
them. Some of our contacts said the publication of the
requirements would clarify conflicting statements by Chechen
and Russian authorities during the spring over the
possibility the marshrutniy list requirement would be
eliminated.
.
MORE TO COME?
--------------


4. (C) Contacts said that given past harassment of NGOs and
oft-repeated rumors that the GOR wanted to remove them from
the North Caucasus, there was always the potential that they
might further tighten access to Chechnya. GOR officials have
created problems for NGOs in the past with seemingly
arbitrary and capricious procedures for submitting access
requests. They have also occasionally denied access to
individual NGOs or severely restricted access for others. In
May, for example, the GOR imposed restrictions on aid workers
and other foreigners traveling in North Ossetia (reftel),
which remain in place. Earlier this month, federal
servicemen repeatedly stopped a UN convoy in Chechnya, which
included European humanitarian aid experts, and the UNHCR
official in charge eventually decided to abandon the mission.
Tull said preliminary information suggested the problem had
been caused by a newly arrived military commander, but the UN
was still awaiting an official explanation. CARE's Barnard
said the GOR's re-registration of NGOs in October was an even
greater worry for most NGOs at the moment.
.
COMMENT
--------------


5. (C) GOR authorities and humanitarian organizations in the
North Caucasus have never had an easy relationship, although
our contacts recently told us their ability to work in
Chechnya seemed to be getting better, not worse. For now,
that continues to be the case. GOR attitudes toward the
international presence in the North Caucasus have always been
sensitive and contradictory, and its intentions hard to
discern. We cannot exclude the possibility that NGOs might
have difficulty in the future. We will continue to follow
the issue closely.

MOSCOW 00008024 002 OF 002


BURNS