"OTHER RUSSIA" NGO EVENT: JAPAN UNDECIDED

C O N F I D E N T I A L TOKYO 003529 SIPDIS SIPDIS EUR/RUS JOHN ARMSTRONG AND DRL/PHD WENDY SILVERMAN E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/23/2016 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SOCI RS JA SUBJECT: "OTHER RUSSIA" NGO EVENT: JAPAN UNDECIDED ATTENDANCE REF: A. STATE 101780 ¶B. 05 TOKYO 6646 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor W. Michael Meserve. Reason for 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. On June 23, Embassy Tokyo Political Officer delivered reftel demarche seeking Japan's presence at the July 11-12 "Other Russia" NGO event to MOFA Russia Division Principal Deputy Director Kazuhiko Nakamura. Nakamura said that Japan was still considering whether it would send a representative to the meeting and that Japanese officials were not likely to make a decision until after the upcoming G8 Foreign Ministers' meeting. ¶2. Nakamura recalled that Japan had expressed concern about the content of the new NGO legislation to Russian officials when the law was first discussed in the lower house of the Duma last year. According to Nakamura, President Putin agreed to reconsider some provisions of the legislation to accommodate Japan's concerns. MOFA officials felt that "that had been done to some extent." ¶3. Nakamura noted that Japan officials were especially concerned about the status of a Japanese quasi-independent organization called the "Japan Center," which provides technical assistance to the Russian government and the private sector to help with the transition to a market economy. Japanese and Russian officials established the center under the terms of a 1994 bilateral treaty. When the bilateral treaty ended, Japan and Russia agreed to change the center's legal status to that of an entity fully covered under Russian law, but also agreed to continue giving the Japan Center "special treatment." Japan would find it difficult to maintain funding for the Japan Center if it "were to be subjected to the same strict regulations as other NGO's," Nakamura stated. DONOVAN