ICRC HOPES ITS PRESIDENT'S MOSCOW VISIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 000177 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/ECA SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM PINR ICRC RS SUBJECT: ICRC HOPES ITS PRESIDENT'S MOSCOW VISIT MEANS IMPROVED RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA ¶1. (SBU) Summary: In Moscow January 14-16, the International Committee of the Red Cross President sought to "upgrade" relations between the Geneva- based organization and the Russian Federation as well as encourage a more systematic, concerted Russian approach to solving the cases of the country's disappeared. While Russian ministers were generous with their time, and meetings were reportedly cordial, no specific pledges to cooperate emerged from the trip. End Summary. ¶2. (U) ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger visited Moscow January 14 to 16, his first foray to Russia since 2001. He met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov for 90 minutes January 15 and for a full two-and-a-half hours with Minister of the Interior Rashid Nurgaliyev the next day. According to Francois Blancy, deputy head of the ICRC's delegation in the RF, Kellenberger will return to Russia in November to mark the 140th anniversary of the St. Petersburg Declaration. (Note: The 1868 Declaration of Saint Petersburg grew out of the invention by Russian military authorities of a bullet that exploded on contact with its target. The then-Russian Government, unwilling to use the bullet itself or to allow another country to take advantage of it, suggested that the use of the bullet be prohibited by international agreement. The Declaration thus confirmed the customary rule according to which the use of weapons that cause unnecessary suffering is prohibited. End note.) ¶3. (U) Blancy told Refcoord January 22 that Kellenberger, a Swiss former diplomat, wants the ICRC to work as closely with Russia as it does with the U.S. and European countries in order fully to integrate the Russian perspective in ICRC policy and planning - an "upgrade" the RF welcomes. Thus this visit was about consultation, Blancy asserted, and did not aim at achieving any new agreements on joint endeavors. Missing: Any Deliverable -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Overall, Blancy declared, the ICRC and Russia have no areas of disagreement; however, the issue of missing persons remains highly sensitive. Blancy would only say that Moscow appears to understand the ICRC's role in working to get answers for frightened and grieving families of the over 1100 people missing in the North Caucasus. "It's a 
bit premature to say more than that" at this time, Blancy hedged. ¶5. (SBU) In spite of Kellenberger's lobbying, Russia did not agree immediately to adopt the ICRC's Model Law on the Missing (http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htm lall/mi ssing-model-law-010907/$File/Model%20law.miss ing- 0907_eng%20.pdf ),which aims to coordinate official agencies' efforts to find people and incorporates measures to prevent disappearances and to support affected families. Nor did the parties resolve their long-term disagreement over ICRC monitoring visits to North Caucasus detainees (the ICRC stopped such visits in 2004 in protest at what it complained were excessively restrictive conditions imposed by authorities). Blancy reported that both sides reiterated regret that no solution has yet been found that would permit resumption of this traditional Red Cross activity. ¶6. (SBU) Blancy pronounced the ICRC satisfied with Kellenberger's trip thanks to the GOR's express commitment, however abstract, to search actively for missing persons; and its welcoming of continued ICRC efforts to promote RF armed forces' understanding of and adherence to international humanitarian law (IHL). His interlocutors informed Kellenberger that the Ministry of Interior has already incorporated the basics of IHL in its troops' curriculum and preferred future ICRC trainings instead to address advanced and specialized issues. ICRC training at Interior, which had halted last year, will resume later in 2008, as soon as the Red Cross can come up with new modules, Blancy affirmed. Comment -------------- ¶7. (SBU) The ICRC has chosen a path of constructive engagement with Moscow. Kellenberger evidently hopes that his "carrot" approach -- more prestige attached to the relationship in return for ministers' time - will have a salutary effect. As MOSCOW 00000177 002 OF 002 the Red Cross has reduced its North Caucasus humanitarian aid budget to $11 million this year (from about $20 million in 2007),the ICRC, if it wishes to matter in the lives of ordinary Russian citizens, must hope the ministers will actually listen - and act. Blancy Bio -------------- ¶8. (U) Biographic note: Francois Blancy, a Frenchman, took up the Deputy Head of ICRC Russian Delegation post in December 2007. He has been with Red Cross since 1994, specializing in protection and tracing and serving in the North Caucasus from 1998- ¶2000. He is married to a Russian citizen of Balkar (Caucasian) ethnicity and has three sons, ages 20, 8, and 5. BURNS