MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS DISCUSSES PRIORITIES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 002024

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN AND INL (ANDREW BUHLER)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PINS PBTS PREL SNAR SOCI UZ
SUBJECT: MINISTER OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS DISCUSSES PRIORITIES,
COOPERATION

Classified By: Poloff Steven Prohaska for reasons 1.4 (b, d).


1. (C) Summary: Ambassador paid a courtesy call on Minister
of Internal Affairs Bakhodir Matlyubov on November 22.
Matlyubov cited counterterrorism and counternarcotics as key
priorities, and repeatedly noted Uzbekistan's cooperation
with a variety of other countries on these issues. He was
also appreciative of U.S. support after the terrorist
bombings in 1999 and of U.S. assistance on counternarcotics
(he welcomed renewed cooperation with DEA if this were an
offer). Matlyubov described recent prison reforms in the
country and said the ICRC was welcome to visit prisons if it
needed to. End summary.


2. (C) Ambassador paid a courtesy call on Minister of
Internal Affairs Bakhodir Matlyubov on November 22.
Matlyubov greeted him warmly, and gave an overview of the
structure and missions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
(MVD). Acting Chief of the Organizational-Inspector
Department of the MVD Hasan Sarabekov and Chief of the
International Cooperation Department Rustam Sayfullev also
participated in the meeting. Uzbekistan was stable and under
control, Matlyubov said, and 80-85 percent of the 75,000
crimes committed during the year had been solved. Uzbekistan
has 3,500 police stations, he continued.


3. (C) Matlyubov said that countering terrorism and extremism
was one of the MVD's priorities. He then launched into a
discussion of the history of terrorism and extremism in the
region, noting that camps in the mountains of Tajikistan and
Chechnya had trained fighters who then came to Uzbekistan.
Matlyubov was appreciative of the assistance Uzbekistan had
received from the United States, Germany, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine and Russia in the aftermath of a series
of five simultaneous explosions in Tashkent on February 16,

1999. Terrorism is a general problem for every country, he
said, and Uzbekistan is keeping tabs on a number of
terrorists. In response to a question about Yuldashev,
Matlyubov said he doubted reports that he had been killed.
Matlyubov said that Uzbekistan works with various countries
such as Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan on preventive and
operational plans, and said that Uzbekistan has received a
great deal of help from the United States in the past.


4. (C) Uzbekistan is also worried about narcotics, Matlyubov
continued. He said that in the early 1990s, heroin and
cocaine were unheard of in Uzbekistan. In 1994, the MVD had
seized 97 grams of heroin. This year, the MVD alone had
seized tons of heroin, he exclaimed. Matlyubov said that
every year, the MVD rents helicopters to search for poppies.
(Note: The MVD lacks its own rotary-wing capability, and
rents helicopters from the Ministry of Defense, which it pays
for fuel and flight hours. End note.) He said Afghanistan
was the main source of these drugs, and while Uzbekistan was
a transit country, there were narcotics users in Uzbekistan
as well. Uzbekistan works with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and
Russia on counternarcotics, and has especially good contact
with Kazakhstan and Russia. He noted that Uzbekistan and the
United States had done good work that had yielded good
results in counternarcotics in the past. Uzbekistan uses
American technical equipment in its counternarcotics efforts,
he said, and American specialists had trained MVD officials.
He welcomed any opportunity to renew ties with DEA.


5. (C) Matlyubov said that Uzbekistan also works with various
countries on trafficking-in-persons and migration issues.
Turning to the subject of prisons, he said that Uzbekistan
was constructing a facility that could accommodate 400
people, and death-row inmates would be transferred there to
serve life terms. (Note: Uzbekistan is slated to abolish
capital punishment on January 1, 2008. End note.) He said
that the prison population in Uzbekistan has declined from
over 80,000 inmates years ago to roughly 40,000 inmates now.
He noted that there was a big difference between this number
and the number of prisoners in Russia and Kazakhstan. In
response to the Ambassador's query, Matlyubov said that the
ICRC can access prisons if they need to, and Uzbekistan was
ready to provide full access. Then he asked the Ambassador
to come to him with any questions; the MVD would respond to
these. After the discussion, Matlyubov showed Ambassador the

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pre-trial detention facility that was being constructed to
the rear of the MVD building.


6. (C) Comment: The Minister for Internal Affairs was very
friendly and had clearly prepared carefully for this meeting,
reading from a type-written speech for many of his
remarks--SOP for the MVD. He even mentioned Thanksgiving.
Surprisingly, Matlyubov struck us as an experienced law
enforcement professional (after 34 years as a cop),not a
thug or an ideologue. He actually seemed to relish his
script and its call for improved relations with the U.S.
NORLAND