BURYATIAN ELITE RUN ROUGHSHOD OVER OPPOSITION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 003070 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/16/2018 TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL RS SUBJECT: BURYATIAN ELITE RUN ROUGHSHOD OVER OPPOSITION, HUMAN RIGHTS REF: MOSCOW 03031 Classified By: Acting Political Minister Counselor David Kostelancik for reason 1.4(d) ¶1. (C) Summary. The Republic of Buryatia, located between Siberia and the Russian Far East, stewards of 60 percent of Lake Baikal's shoreline and the center of Siberian Tibetan Buddhism, remains largely overlooked by Moscow. Run by reputedly corrupt United Russia officials, the Buryatian capital Ulan Ude stands as the only city of significance in the republic. While bureaucrats focused on economic development and tourism as harbingers of the region's future, opposition leaders still decried past electoral injustice and strong-arm tactics. Human rights leaders and journalists noted the absence of legislation, tolerance, or any opportunity to support citizens' rights, and even predicted the slow death of the Buryat language without financial and material assistance. Buddhist community leaders applauded the level of tolerance for their religion, however, and believed they had finally achieved religious freedom. End Summary. Corrupt Incumbents Keep Opposition at a Distance -------------- --- ¶2. (C) While United Russia representatives directed the majority of government ministries in Buryatia, opposition leaders and journalists complained that their power was illegitimate. Local Yabloko chief Lazar Bartunayev told us on October 3 that his long time ethnic Buryat rival, Ulan Ude's mayor Gennadiy Aidayev, ascended to his post after rigging the mayoral elections in Ulan Ude. Bartunayev claimed that Aidayev, re-elected in December 2007, had mobilized supporters in advance of the election to bring Buryatians from outside of the Ulan Ude voting area to voting precincts, bribing them to vote for him. Because of this maneuver, he lost the election to Aidayev by one percent (43 percent to 42 percent). After the election, Bartunayev published a long list of incidents documenting the extent of Aidayev's corruption, as well as that of other United Russia regional Duma and city officials. Bartunayev and his Yabloko supporters attempted to distribute the newspapers on the streets of Ulan Ude, but they were confiscated by Molodaya Gvardia youth group members and destroyed. While he expected at least some kind of public comment or rebuttal to his efforts, Aidayev's administration never responded. Bartunayev experienced problems prior to the election as well, having been dropped from the official list of mayoral candidates after official complaints that Bartunayev's nomination process was done improperly. ¶3. (C) Bartunayev, a PhD in economics who has directed a loose coalition of professional unions and youth groups for over a year, explained that the government's reach extended beyond simple politics and elections. As the former director of "Arig Us" television company, he was fired from his position after Mayor Aidayev forced company stockholders to vote him out. Bartunayev elaborated that he had accepted Garry Kasparov at his television outlet in 2005 when Kasparov initially considered public office and agreed to broadcast his message in Buryatia. Hearing of Bartunayev's intentions, Aidayev strongly objected and warned him to not put Kasparov on a live broadcast. Bartunayev reconsidered, then decided to broadcast Kasparov's address to the Buryatian people after a delay, during which Aidayev would have a chance to review Kasparov's message and to confirm its innocuous nature. Supposedly getting a green light, Bartunayev broadcast the message days later, only to be reprimanded by Aidayev for disregarding his orders. The mayor subsequently shut down the television station, organized its stockholders to oppose Bartunayev, and then removed him in an "open and fair procedure." ¶4. (C) Just Russia's Irinchey Matkhanov tried to downplay the superiority of United Russia in Ulan Ude, yet admitted that other parties lacked a sufficient critical mass to force changes. He described his party as pragmatic, composed of practical representatives that come from numerous educational and employment backgrounds, all people who could leave politics at a moment's notice and re-engage with their respective past careers. His supporters -- predominantly pensioners, youth, and small entrepreneurs -- more or less backed the Medvedev government, yet believed Just Russia paid greater attention to the economic and social well-being of Russian citizens. True to form, a few days after our visit to Ulan Ude, Just Russia Federation Council speaker Sergey Mironov called for greater government financial support to citizens in the Baikal region in an October 8 address in Ulan Ude. Mironov appealed for income-tax exemption and, in a throw-back to Soviet-style appeasement, free flights to European Russia for Baikal area residents. Economic Concerns Paramount for Buryatian Government -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Buryatian officials felt confident that their economy remained isolated from any shocks of the current international financial crisis because of its distance from Moscow. Deputy Mayor Viktor Gavrilov spoke with us at length on October 3 about the importance of infrastructure development in Ulan Ude as a precursor for wider social prosperity. He outlined the city strategy, emphasizing basic rehabilitation of the water system, sewage system, power grid, and road network to improve productivity. He doubted that credit lines would contract, and separated banking problems in Moscow from those in Buryatia. Government-controlled Telecom TV journalist Aleksandr Maltsev confirmed that media outlets in Ulan Ude broadcast positive stories about the local economy, yet confided that the stories were "pure PR without any substance." In line with Medvedev's new direction for Kremlin-backed youth group Nashi, Gavrilov underscored the need to mobilize and engage youth groups in Ulan Ude on economic projects on trade and investment. Many youth groups, including United Russia-supported Molodaya Gvardia, were already actively leading projects to clean up the ecologically-damaged Lake Baikal, beneficial to the local economy. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director in Buryatia Vladimir Ivanov also stressed the need for continued economic development, especially in attracting more foreign investment from China. Buryat Language in Danger of Becoming Extinct? -------------- - ¶6. (C) Although the majority of officials stated that no ethnic tensions existed in Buryatia, some journalists and opposition figures offered a different view, noting that officials discriminated against ethnic Buryats. Chief Editor of news daily "Vecherniy Ulan Ude" Andrey Dumler explained that the Buryatian Republic government stopped teaching the Buryat language in schools and universities and has fully promoted Russian, contributing to a decline in numbers of those that speak Buryat. Yabloko's Bartunayev confirmed these comments, reporting that even Buryatian officials had turned against their own heritage in return for the money and power of government posts. Dumler, along with Yabloko supporter and Chief Journalist for the Ulan Ude daily newspaper "In the Capital's Rhythm" Radzhana Dugarova, explained that they organized ethnic Buryat students of foreign languages to translate American and other Western films into Buryat as a strategy to keep the language alive and current. Recognizing the limits of their efforts, they expressed interest in establishing a more sustainable approach, but lamented that "civil organization and civil society development were possible in Russia, only as long as the focus remained non-political." Ethnic Tension Nonexistent, But So Are Human Rights? -------------- -------------- ¶7. (C) Acting Minister of Justice Boris Botoyev professed on October 3 that ethnic relations in Buryatia were very good, evidenced by the absence of pickets or demonstrations after the Georgian conflict as well as growing economic stability in the republic. Others agreed with Botoyev, the past Director of the former Buryatian Federal Registration Service, now a part of the Ministry of Justice. Deputy Mayor Viktor Gavrilov stressed that interethnic cooperation, especially between the dominant Slavic Russian and ethnic Buryat groups, remained strong. ¶8. (C) United Civil Front Coordinator for the Buryatia Republic Sergey Dambayev told us on October 2 that Buryatian citizens simply "did not understand the concept of human rights." After giving a human rights presentation to students and faculty of the philosophy department of a state university in Ulan Ude, professors warned him to cease pushing for human rights reforms unless he wanted to attract unwanted attention. Dambayev believed that no one comprehended the message he conveyed, and many who supported United Civil Front feared retribution after the government expelled an American teacher, accused of being a spy, on a Fulbright exchange program (NFI) from Ulan Ude in 2007 after participating in pickets against unfair elections. This fear has manifested itself as ideological conformity, according to Dambayev and Dugarova. ¶9. (C) On a positive note, disabled citizen rights organization "Preodelenie" reported moderate success in convincing Buryatian and Ulan Ude government officials and construction companies to outfit new buildings for handicap access. Preodelenie Director Erzhena Budayeva told us on October 2 that despite the absence of legislation mandating handicap access to buildings in Ulan Ude, they had persuaded business leaders and bureaucrats alike to equip offices and stores with handicap accessible bathrooms, elevators, doors, and reception areas, increasing their level of acceptability in society little by little. Huge obstacles to social integration for the disabled remained, including overcoming tolerance and ignorance, passing legislation that protected their rights, and securing a stable source of funding. Budayeva explained that a vast gulf between Russian and Western cultures existed with regard to disabled citizens, telling us that on arrival in Paris several years ago, she was overwhelmed with apologies from airport staff after they forgot to promptly provide a mobile ramp for a set of stairs in the terminal. After graduating with her Masters in Public Administration from SUNY, she tried to return to Ulan Ude on Russia's Aeroflot Airlines, but was refused passage since she could not fit through the doors or aisle in her wheelchair. Buddhists See Religious Harmony in Ulan Ude -------------- ¶10. (C) Representatives from the ethnic Buryat Buddhist community believed that they had achieved complete freedom to celebrate and observe their traditions, in significant contrast to the persecution suffered under Soviet rule. Gunchen Lama, head of Ivolginsky Datsan, the chief Buddhist temple for Siberian Tibetan Buddhism, told us on October 2 that the government finally "allowed Buddhists to be Buddhists" by practicing their religion without interference. The Buddhist temples and monks survived on donations from the community, and had invested some money into an expansion of the Ivolginsky Temple complex, including a new dormitory for approximately 20 students of the Datsan school. The Lama invited us to a traditional Mongolian wrestling match in the Buryatian countryside, during which he spoke about the need for Buddhists to experience life outside of Ulan Ude and other cities, away from beer halls and pollution. He joked about the prize, a new car, offered by an Ulan Ude jeweler to the best wrestler of the tournament, saying that he would prefer that they just grab a sheep from the hills as best prize instead. After our meeting and a tour of the datsan, MFA representative Lubov Zasukhina agreed that the Buddhists enjoyed full religious freedom, then cajoled the Lama as "dirty" and Buddhists as "unclean people with their own false religion, unlike we Orthodox." U.S.-Russia Ties Temporarily Tense, Optimistic About Future -------------- -------------- ¶11. (C) MFA Director Vladimir Ivanov took a modest approach to the current state of U.S.-Russia relations, telling us on October 3 that both countries have had, and will always have, different opinions and mentalities. However, he believed that the similarities shared by Russia and the U.S. outnumbered the differences. He stated that Russian and American stability, power, and even shared physical traits provided opportunities for compromise and cooperation. In particular, he singled out our cooperation on combating terrorism as a model on which future programs should be based. Remembering his past trip to Chicago fondly, Ivanov added that the United States attracted huge amounts in tourism dollars, and he hoped that Ulan Ude could tap into the tourist market by marketing Lake Baikal more widely as a destination. A Just Russia's Matkhanov also viewed U.S.-Russia relations positively, stating that his supporters had not changed their opinion of the U.S. because of the Georgian conflict, saying "we realize that there are always problems in the Caucasus." Comment -------------- ¶12. (C) As in Chita (reftel),economic leaders failed to connect the dots between the U.S financial crisis and consequences for the Buryatian Republic. Without continued financial assistance, civil society development in Ulan Ude faces difficult times, and that equates to gloomy prospects for non-political social organizations. BEYRLE