ULAN UDE, WHERE BEING ASIAN WORKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MOSCOW 005101 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PREF ECON ETRD PINR MG RS SUBJECT: ULAN UDE, WHERE BEING ASIAN WORKS Classified By: Political M/C Alice G. Wells. Reasons 1,4 (B/D). ¶1. (C) Summary. During an October 15-19 trip to the Republic of Buryatia, squeezed between Lake Baikal and Mongolia, local government officials, political party representatives, and civil society leaders shared with us their views on the political, economic, and social development of the region. Buryatia is about the size of Germany, but has a population of fewer than one million, almost forty percent of whom live in its capital, Ulan Ude. On December 2, three major elections -- for the State Duma, the Republic legislature or Khural, and for mayor of Ulan Ude -- will take place. The recently-appointed President, the incumbent mayor (who is seeking the third term),and 34 of 66 Khural deputies are United Russia members, and the upcoming elections will most likely further strengthen the ruling party's hand. The Ministry of Economics May 2006 decision to designate Buryatia one of seven special tourist zones has raised hopes of economic progress in the republic. Buryatia is home to more than 100 ethnic groups and a variety of religious sects, and considers itself a model of interethnic and interconfessional harmony. Cultural similarities and a shared heritage have created bonds between Buryatia and many of its Asian neighbors. Chinese and Mongolian traders, South Korean businessmen, and North Korean laborers (legal and illegal) are seeking their fortunes in the republic. End summary. From "Red" Republic to United Russia -------------- ¶2. (C) Although the Soviet Union disappeared 16 years ago, interlocutors with whom we met during an October 15 - 19 visit to Ulan Ude agreed that the residents of Buryatia continued to nurture a pronounced nostalgia for the Communist regime. Even now, the world's largest head of Lenin -- seven meters high -- keeps watch over the city's main square, while many residents to this day reportedly long for the days when education, living space, and annual visits to the sanitarium were cost-free. Ivan Kalashnikov, a former Communist party leader and now head of the United Russia party spoke feelingly of that nostalgia before turning to a discussion of the political campaigns. Kalashnikov denied the connection between Putin's decision to lead the United Russia party list and the stampede to his party in Buryatia, claiming that the 
UR had begun to attract defectors months before Putin's announcement and that the process is continuing. He noted that five Agrarian party members in the Khural had been absorbed by United Russia at their request two months before Putin's decision. United Russia's current membership, which Kalashnikov estimated at 13,000, is increasing at a rate of 100 - 600 per day. ¶3. (C) Kalashnikov told us that United Russia hoped to add one Duma seat to the one it won in the last election. He also predicted that United Russia would win two-thirds of the local Khural and that the party's candidate for mayor, Gennadiy Aidayev, would win as well. United Russia Buryatia was following the party's national policy in running twenty percent women and twenty percent youth (under 27 years of age) on its party list. The chief plank of the party's platform was to increase the volume of subsidies flowing from Moscow. Winner Takes All? -------------- ¶4. (C) Not so fast, said Just Russia's Irinchey Matkhanov in a subsequent conversation. Matkhanov is a popular businessman who has reportedly done much for the republic, and he exemplifies the personality-driven politics that seems to prevail in the underpopulated and poor Republic. Anzhelika Meshkova, a journalist told us that Just Russia's high standing in the republic -- it is the second-strongest regional party organization after St. Petersburg -- is attributable to Matkhanov's prominence. Just Russia's success meant that its chairman, Sergey Mironov, visited the republic frequently and that, according to Matkhanov, Just Russia hopes to harvest at least one Duma seat and win 20 - 25 percent of the Khural, which could increase the number of seats (13) that it currently holds. ¶5. (C) The remaining opposition parties seemed to be much weaker than United Russia and Just Russia. Local Communist party chairman Naydan Chimbeyev complained bitterly about the numerous small, "ineffective" opposition parties that allegedly subtracted votes from his party. As a result, he said, the Communist party is not represented in the Khural. Despite Just Russia's professed socialist orientation, Chimbeyev believed that the Communist party was the only real "left" party, with a republic-wide platform that called for the re-nationalization of the energy sector and other MOSCOW 00005101 002 OF 004 industries. In his small, unheated office, adorned with red flags and a bust of Lenin, Chimbeyev argued good naturedly that the U.S. and Yeltsin had destroyed the Soviet Union. He hoped that his party would win one Duma seat and 5 - 6 seats in the Khural. Chimbeyev complained that United Russia's lavish promises had seduced the youth, leaving his party only the region's pensioners. ¶6. (C) There was little evidence of the presence of other parties in Ulan Ude, except a few posters for LDPR's Vladimir Zhirinovskiy. Yabloko has 477 members and with its focus on small-scale social projects, seems to function more like an NGO than a political party. Its leader, Lazar Bartunayev, offered us his list of administrative resources at United Russia's disposal: abundant "dead souls" on the voter lists, control of the media, and the use of the extremism law to prohibit criticism of political leaders during the election campaign. All interlocutors agreed that none of the small opposition parties had a chance for a seat in the Khural. A meeting with a group of students suggested that lack of information and limited choices were the biggest problems that local voters face. When Radio Siberia, the only voice opposing the merger of the Aginsk Buryat Autonomous Area into the Chita region, was closed by local authorities, the Buryat republic got the message, said one of the students. Graduate student Maksim Sharipov, in referring to the current campaign said, "They ask us whether we want dark or light beer when we don't want beer at all." Baikal -- Buryatia's Hope -------------- ¶7. (C) According to two South Korean investors who have been working in Ulan Ude for 14 years, change was coming slowly to the republic. In the last three years it had experienced a construction boom, and there had been a noticeable increase in used Korean and Japanese cars and new shopping centers. Mrs. Kim (64),owner of a restaurant complex, and Mr. Huang (65),a timber exporter to Japan and Korea, attributed the change to increased border trade with Mongolia, China, and Korea. Buryatia's two major resources-- Lake Baikal and precious stone deposits -- were firmly controlled by Moscow, he thought, and could not reach their economic potential. Locals attach much hope to the GOR's May 2006 designation of Buryatia as one of the country's seven tourist zones. An Austrian group has won a GOR contract to construct a new Ulan Ude airport; and the first Austrian construction team visited the airport on October 16. ¶8. (U) Lake Baikal, the reservoir for more than one-quarter of the world's fresh water, draws attention from all major environmental organizations, but suffers from administrative neglect by all three Baikal regions--Irkutsk, Buryatia and Chita-- as well as by China and Mongolia whose rivers feed Baikal. The accumulation of garbage and chemical/waste dumping into the lake by Irkutsk region's factories was an urgent issue for the environmentalists but only a necessary evil for the region's authorities. Turn to the East -------------- ¶9. (C) The usual Asian ethnic composition one sees in Primorskiy, Khabarovsk, and Chita regions repeats itself in Buryatia. Twenty-four percent of the local population are Buryats, and their ethnic similarity to Mongolians, and the geographical proximity of Mongolia itself, have fostered close ties between the two. The Moscow-controlled quota system limits the amount of labor that can be imported from Asian countries to 2,700 per year for Buryatia. About 1,500 work visas are awarded to Chinese each year. They can stay for one year and may return for a longer period after they have returned once to China. Cabbages covering fields just outside Ulan Ude as far as the eye can see attest to Chinese industrious; something that the Republic's residents both admire and fear. Every shopping center in Ulan Ude is flooded with Chinese goods, mostly clothing and shoes, and Korean electronic goods. A quick survey of the Chinese markets showed Chinese traders mainly from the Northeastern provinces of China, such as Heilungjiang and Yanji. Unlike the Primorskiy region, no Vietnamese or Russian Koreans were visible in the markets. ¶10. (C) Many Chinese and Mongolians travel between Ulan Ude and Manzhouli, on the Chinese border in neighboring Chita region, as shuttle traders. They often wait as much as ten hours at the border following their long journey from Ulan Ude. Buryatia's own border towns of Naushkiy (train crossing only) and Kyakhta are gateways to Mongolia through which many Russian and foreign businessmen travel. According to Mongolian Consul General Chimidorzh Agvandamdin, most Mongol traders prefer to engage in the more lucrative re-sale of MOSCOW 00005101 003 OF 004 Chinese goods than to engage in direct trade. (Russia - Mongolia relations to be reported septel.) Chinese -- Odd Man Out? -------------- ¶11. (C) Buryats believe they share an ethnic kinship with Mongolians and Koreans. Ethnic similarity contributes to a warm feeling among the three groups. Despite years of atheism practiced both in Buryatia and Mongolia, the two groups believe they are bound by the shared practice of Lamaism, while many Koreans remain devout Buddhists. Buryatia is the seat of Russia's highest Lama --the Khombo Lama-- and boasts the largest lamasery in Russia. The lamasery, with its colorful thankas, worn-out prayer wheels, and prayer cloths tied to every possible tree branch reminds the visitor of the small lamaseries of Llasa in Tibet and Xining in China. The only noticeable difference is the absence of the smell of yak butter. Many interlocutors spoke with reverence of the Dalai Lama's 1993 visit to Buryatia. ¶12. (C) Economic necessity makes the hatred of the Han Chinese, so palpable in Tibet, more muted in Buryatia. Meshkova summed up the locals' attitude toward the Chinese as "we hate them, but we need them." In a comment that was typical of many heard during the visit, one student described the Chinese as "ants, who do not need to think and do not think, but only work." Korean Tragedy -------------- ¶13. (C) Three types of Koreans -- Russian Koreans, South Koreans and North Koreans -- collide and experience "cultural" differences, which are often hurtful and insurmountable. --Russian Koreans: Most of their parents were forcefully relocated to Central Asia from Sakhalin during the Stalin era and for many different reasons they ended up in Buryatia. Their grandparents were sent to Sakhalin by the Japanese while Korea was under Japanese rule (1910-1936). Most of them do not speak Korean but culturally consider themselves Korean. They took the arrival of South Koreans as their chance to move up the societal ladder, only to be disappointed. Many blame the GOR for not letting them leave Russia to relocate to South Korea, while others complained that South Korea treated them as "poor" relatives whose only goal was to move to Korea, and applied a strict visa regime to them. -- South Koreans: With the IMF crisis in full swing in South Korea in 1994, several came to Buryatia, where "similar" people lived, to seek economic success. Many turned to local Koreans for language and administrative help. One after another, they were "cheated" by the local Koreans who were "Russians" and not "Koreans" culturally. Those that succeeded won the attention of local politicians, which was more of a curse than a blessing. Mrs. Kim, who won a legal battle against the mayor's office over the possible expropriation of her commercial property, has since been saddled with an exorbitant tax bill of 5 million rubles, an unheard of sum in Buryatia. --North Koreans: According to Mr. Huang, a South Korean businessman who serves as a one-man oasis for North Koreans, there are 200 "legally" working North Koreans and about 20 "illegals" in hiding in Ulan Ude. Those on legal contract were sent by the North Korean government as guest workers, most of whom are engaged in construction work. Although they are hard working, they are unskilled, as they were chosen because of their political loyalty to the regime rather than their agility in heavy labor. North Korean workers face fierce competition from the Chinese who arrive equipped with skills and good tools. The going rate for North Korean workers is 1000 rubles a day, from which their leader collects 450 rubles. With work not in steady supply, most North Koreans earn USD 1,500-2,000 a year. Once sent out, North Koreans stay for 3 years. After they return home, they are not allowed to leave again for five years -- the period deemed necessary for re-education. --North Koreans in hiding: About 500 North Korean lumberjacks work in the nearby Siberian city Tinta, according to the South Koreans, and many have attempted to escape the execrable conditions there. The twenty in Ulan Ude are a combination of escapees from Tinta and other illegal border crossers. Buryatia and Irkutsk are known to be good hiding places because North Koreans can more easily blend into the local Asian population. Their dream is to relocate to South Korea; their fear is of the "legal" North Koreans who could inform on them and the Russian authorities who could capture MOSCOW 00005101 004 OF 004 and send them back. South Koreans can easily detect new arrivals. The new ones run away as soon as they discern South-Korean accented Korean, while the "veterans" approach with requests for additional work. Hope Floats -------------- ¶14. (C) The new President of Buryatia, Vladimir Nagovitsyin, has brought much hope to the republic. On Nagovintsyn's one hundred-day watch, much of the city's long-overdue roadwork is already under way and a first-ever escalator-equipped shopping mall has been completed. According to Deputy Mayor Viktor Gavrilov, the average monthly salary for Ulan Ude residents is around 11,000 rubles while that of the whole republic is 8,000 rubles. The two most important industries at this point -- helicopter production (with exports to ten countries, including India, Pakistan, Spain and Iran) and meat processing -- are insufficient to turn Buryatia into a regional trade and tourism center. As an important junction for the Moscow - Beijing, Moscow - Ulanbaatar railroads, Ulan Ude could play a more important commercial role. The local tolerance of difference has brought many ethnic groups and religious sects to the republic. Besides Buddhism and the Russian Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims are represented. The old believers, exiled under Catherine the Great, have left their mark and a group of Semeyists (so called because they were sent in families, semyami in Russian) still live in the republic. ¶15. (C) Many problems remain. Among them is the migration of the educated population to the big cities of Russia, including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk and Irkutsk. Economic growth in the neighboring Irkutsk region has outstripped that of Buryatia, which is a source of frustration. While Irkutsk is producing hydroelectric energy from Baikal, Buryatia has benefited little from the natural resources it has. Aleksandr Yelayev of the Republic's Presidential Administration, however, hoped that an increasing birth rate, and signs that outmigration had lessened, meant a more prosperous future for the region. Burns