PUBLIC CHAMBERS CARVE NEW ROLE IN RUSSIA'S REGIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 001859

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2018
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI RS
SUBJECT: PUBLIC CHAMBERS CARVE NEW ROLE IN RUSSIA'S REGIONS

Classified By: Acting Political M/C Robert Patterson. Reason: 1.4 (d)
.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Russia's regional elite are taking cues
from the center and establishing "Public Chamber" bodies to
provide a forum for societal organizations -- human rights,
ecological, social advocacy -- to make their voices heard by
regional administration and legislatures. Given the
increased visibility of the Federal Public Chamber in recent
months, regional activists have some hope that they will be
better positioned to influence policy through participation
in locally-sponsored institutions. Yet many within both the
social activist camp and in the government are skeptical,
fearing at worst that politicians and bureaucrats will use
the regional public chambers as another instrument for
controlling civil society or will ignore them completely. In
two Siberian regions, Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk, where the
administrations have only recently established public chamber
organizations, most are taking a "wait and see" approach to
the new institutions. END SUMMARY.

Building From Existing Organizations
--------------


2. (C) In the past year, regional administrations have
followed Moscow's lead and established Public Chambers.
Federal Public Chamber member and head of the Chamber's
Commission for Regional Development Vyacheslav Glazychev told
us that about half of Russia's 84 regions have created their
own public chambers. In the remaining regions, governors
have been opposed to creating a forum for possible public
dissent and criticism, but are under increasing pressure from
Moscow to follow suit. Indicative of the trend, both
Krasnoyarsk Kray and Irkutsk Oblast established Public
Chambers over the past year, reportedly as a means of
currying favor with the Kremlin.


3. (C) Krasnoyarsk Ombudsman for Human Rights Mark Denisov
had responsibility for organizing his region's Public Chamber
in his previous job on Governor Khloponin's staff. Five
"chambers" had already been established before the regional
leadership decided to create its own overarching Public
Chamber, each with a particular constituency and issue set,
such as veteran's organizations or the women's issues. Over
the past year, an additional four "chambers" have been
established for nationalities questions, ecological defense,
and other social issues. Denisov, with Khloponin's direct
guidance, sought to use those structures as "building blocks"
for an all-region Public Chamber. Ultimately, they decided
upon the creation of the "Citizens' Assembly," with an
organizing committee composed of 34 members (with the
possibility of adding an additional six members). Half of
the members are selected from the societal organizations
themselves, with each of ten chambers selecting two committee
members. The governor a
nd legislative assembly pick an additional fourteen members.


4. (C) As in Krasnoyarsk Kray, the newly assembled Public
Chamber in Irkutsk Oblast was built upon existing societal
structures, according to chamber member Galiya Bobkova of
Irkutsk State University. She saw the creation of the Public
Chamber as an evolutionary step in a long process of social
activism and "liberal" opposition in Irkutsk. Tracing the
movement's roots back to Soviet-era ecological protests
against a paper/pulp mill on nearby Lake Baikal, Bobkova
explained that regional activists had been attempting to
influence government policy, while simultaneously working to
foster understanding about funding opportunities for social
work and to teach organizational techniques. The Irkutsk
chamber has 60 members, 15 appointed by the governor's
offices, 15 by the legislative assembly, and the remaining 30
elected by those appointees.


5. (C) Bobkova expressed cautious optimism about the Public
Chamber's potential, even though she complained that the
agenda thus far targeted "serious" issues, but not those that
the societal organizations would have chosen themselves. She
also outlined some of the bureaucratic hassles that the
Chamber members are facing. Her committee on education
wanted to post a letter to the legislature but was unsure
which letterhead to use -- a sign that the Irkutsk Chamber's
work is also circumscribed by administrative issues.
Already, the Chamber has discussed the merits of a
gasification plan for the northern part of Irkutsk Oblast and
Babkova boasted that they had fulfilled their task of
recommending solutions without creating a "lot of noise"
politically.

Irkutsk Public Chamber:
"A Club of Limited Interests"
--------------

6. (C) Regional political observers and media are far more
skeptical about the potential for the regional Public
Chambers. In general, our contacts expressed admiration for
the delegates "as people," but saw the selection process as
biased in favor of pro-administration voices. Dmitriy
Lyustritskiy, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Irkutsk
Vostochno-Sibirskaya Pravda newspaper, complained that the
regional Public Chamber is useless, a "suitcase without a
handle." Living up to his reputation as one of the more
strident opponents to the Chamber, he noted to us that
two-thirds of the appointees had no experience with politics,
and the other third was composed of former players in
regional politics. Ultimately, Lyustritskiy saw the regional
body as having far less gravitas than the federal Chamber and
commented that the best and brightest of those who might have
represented the region at the local Chamber had already left
for Moscow.


7. (C) Aleksey Petrov, of the now defunct regional branch of
the Union of Right Forces (SPS) political party, complained
that the Irkutsk Public Chamber was not a broad
representation of society, but instead promoted the same
circle of government-linked players that had dominated
regional politics for many years (essentially turning
Babkova's assertions of continuity into a critique). He
noted that the Chamber had made a declaration against a
planned agglomeration of the cities of Irkutsk, Angarsk, and
Shelekhov into a single municipality. The unification scheme
had been the brainchild of former governor Tishanin, with the
idea that creating a "mega" city of more than 1 million
residents from the existing towns would allow Irkutsk to be
more competitive in garnering Federal monies and, perhaps, an
IKEA complex as well. According to Petrov, the Chamber made
its ruling without actually having an open discussion,
suggesting that it was following "acting" governor
Esipovskiy's orders to reject his predecessor'
s agenda.


8. (C) The Chair of United Russia's Executive Committee in
Irkutsk Natalya Dengina gave a much more positive spin on
things, claiming that the regional Public Chamber had played
an important role in assessing the development plan to 2020
(which includes the agglomeration scheme). She noted that
the Chamber had expressed concern about balancing tourism
development with ecological preservation -- indirect
criticism of Tishanin's proposals for creating a vast
tourist-recreation industry based on Baikal.

Krasnoyarsk - Just Starting
--------------


9. (C) Krasnoyarsk's Public Chamber has only just begun its
work, so our contacts there tended to take a "let's see"
approach. Denisov admitted some concerns about the work of
the Public Chamber, including worries that government
officials would try to use it to promote approval for
particular policies. He also complained that many of the
social activists suffered from a "paternalistic" approach and
would use the Public Chamber merely as a channel for winning
benefits or handouts from the administration. He also noted
the highly formalistic structure of the organizing committee,
which set very tight parameters for the Chamber's work.


10. (C) The attitude of Aleksandr Uss, Speaker of the
regional legislature and leader of the United Russia faction,
epitomized the general ambivalence within the elite to the
new Chamber. He appeared surprised by the question and then
answered that the fate of the Public Chamber in Krasnoyarsk
Kray would depend upon society's acceptance of the new
institution and the success of its members in organizing
themselves and their work. He underscored that the
administration already had an "experts committee" that worked
with the legislature in structuring laws that took into
consideration the full range of ecological and social impact,
implying that the Chamber's input on legislation was not
necessary. He expressed hope that the Chamber would serve as
an "additional window" on the world for the administration
and could help to grow civil society in the region.

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


11. (C) The experience of Krasnoyarsk Kray and Irkutsk Oblast
gives testimony to the national trend in establishing Public
Chamber organizations. Our contacts suggested that this
trend reflected blind adherence to Moscow's dictates; an
attempt to re-engage the "moderate" opposition forces that
were cut out of the political process; and, perhaps more
cynically, an attempt to force societal organizations to work
with the state (and thus wean them off of any foreign
funding). In any case, the question now remains about the
effectiveness of those institutions. According to Alla
Gerber, Director of the Moscow Holocaust Center and member of
the federal-level Public Chamber, the benefit of
participating in the Chamber for "outsiders" (i.e. activists
outside of United Russia) is that membership gives the aura
of being "one of Putin's children" -- a useful tool for
pushing reluctant bureaucrats on particular issues. Whether
or not regional members enjoy the same clout at their level
will depend upon the status that the local Public Chambers
enjoy and the relative weight that each governor accords to
them. In the coming months, we will be watching to see how,
or if, the Federal Public Chamber interacts with its regional
affiliates as an indication of stronger organization and the
creation of more inter-regional ties. At the same time, we
will also monitor the work of regional Chambers to see if
they are allowed to develop their potential as an "accepted"
avenue for civil society to advance its interests or to see
if the institutions become another link in the vertical of
power.
RUSSELL