OFFICIAL RUSSIA BRISTLES AT SUPPORTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY REPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 001674

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/11/2017
TAGS: KDRM PGOV PHUM PINR SOCI RS
SUBJECT: OFFICIAL RUSSIA BRISTLES AT SUPPORTING HUMAN
RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY REPORT

Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns. Reason: 1.4 (d).

--------------
Summary
--------------


1. (C) In its April 11 reaction to the release of the 2006
Supporting Human Rights and Democracy report, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs further stoked a fire that was set by an
April 7 front-page article in the national daily Kommersant
and fed with criticism by State Duma Foreign Affairs
Committee Chairman Kosachev, Duma Chairman Gryzlov, and
others. All bristled at what they saw as USG interference in
Russia's internal affairs. Embassy contacts traced Russian
sputtering to increased sensitivity in advance of national
legislative and presidential elections, pre-election
posturing, a downturn in relations sparked by increasingly
sharp disagreements over Georgia and Kosovo and, more
worryingly, a desire to put the political opposition on
notice that it might be tarred with the U.S. brush as this
all-important campaign year progresses. End summary.

--------------
Barrage of Criticism
--------------


2. (C) In what was perhaps a sign of worse to come, the
national daily Kommersant April 7 featured a front-page
article on the release of the Supporting Human Rights and
Democracy Report (SHRD). Kommersant's generally restrained
coverage this time gave way to criticism of what it saw as
the USG's effort to manage Russia's political process. The
Kommersant piece was followed at the beginning of the week by
an equally stinging public rebuke by the generally more
moderate Chairman of the Duma's Foreign Affairs Committee
Konstantin Kosachev. Kosachev reiterated his complaint about
the alleged U.S. intention to "finance projects within the
framework of the. . .Duma and presidential elections" in an
April 9 meeting with American Jewish Congress (AJC). AJC
contacts told us that Kosachev seemed genuinely offended, as
did Minister of Foreign Affairs Lavrov, who told AJC
representatives in a meeting the same day that "it looks like
the U.S. is trying to show us how to run a democracy."


3. (U) Duma Chairman Gryzlov April 10 was less politic than
Kosachev, describing the SHRD exercise as "interference by
another state in Russia's affairs" and a product of the
"politics of double standards." Gryzlov was followed a day
later by the MFA which lambasted the report in a
five-paragraph statement. Official Moscow's reaction was, of
course, re-played on all television channels the evening of
April 11, and continued to get press play April 12, with
articles in Izvestiya and in the official Rossiyskaya Gazeta,
which featured criticism by moderate Federation Council
Chairman Sergey Mironov, and United Russia General Counsel
Vyacheslav Volodin. The MFA planned to continue its attack
with an April 12 midday press conference by Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Yakovenko.

--------------
Why the Sensitivity?
--------------


4. (C) Embassy contacts traced Russian sensitivity to the
election year and the frayed state of U.S.-Russian relations.
Human Rights Watch's Allison Gill told us that GOR reaction
to criticism had sharpened recently, and anything that
smacked of foreign interference in the Duma and presidential
elections would set it off. Ekho Moskvy Editor Aleksey
Venediktov, who spoke to us before the MFA weighed in,
thought that the reactions of leading politicians were
designed for internal use as the election year unfolded.
Venediktov noted that the Kremlin would not tolerate outside
interference in an election process that was not as managed
as it had hoped it would be. Kremlin-friendly analyst
Andrannik Migranyan commented that simmering disagreements
over Kosovo and Georgia had made Russia's opinion makers even
more sensitive to criticism from the United States.

--------------
Need for Cover
--------------


5. (C) United Civic Front's Garry Kasparov April 11 argued
that the GOR's reaction in the end tapped into a popular
sentiment here. He told us that the only way for even
would-be opposition politicians in the current environment to
establish their street credentials with the public was to
credibly allege that they were not corrupt, that they were
anti-Kremln, and anti-U.S. By "anti-U.S.," Kasparov
clarified, he meant only, not in the pocket of the West. The

MOSCOW 00001674 002 OF 002


NGO Golos's Liliya Shabanova agreed that the current
atmosphere was poisonous, making it even more imperative that
NGOs like hers seek cover by working with
government-sponsored entities like the Central Election
Commission-associated Russian Foundation for Free Elections
(RFFE). Shabanova thought that in the current environment
Golos needed RFFE assistance to establish and maintain
relationships with the central election commission and
regional commissions.


6. (C) The NGO Foundation for Information Policy
Development's (FIPD) Director Svetlana Kolesnik seconded and
amplified on Shabanova's remarks, noting that "in the current
political environment, it makes sense to cooperate with
organizations like the Russian Foundation for Free
Elections," and not to work only with Russia's "strong
opposition."

--------------
Comment
--------------


7. (C) Official Russia's protracted blustering about the SHRD
is traceable to the same sensitivity about the role of
foreign entities in the country's domestic political
processes that prompted the passage of the stringent NGO law
in early 2006. As this all-important election year
progresses, we can expect that sensitivity to only increase.
This puts a premium on USG efforts to engage all sides here,
including a truculent Russian government that wants to paint
US engagement as focused on engineering a political outcome,
rather than on strengthening an electoral process.
BURNS