PANFILOVA STILL OPTIMISTIC THAT MEDVEDEV WILL

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 003363 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/RUS, EEB/IFD TREASURY FOR TORGERSON DOC FOR 4231/MAC/EUR/JBROUGHER NSC FOR PRICE E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2018 TAGS: ECON EINV SOCI PGOV KCOR RS SUBJECT: PANFILOVA STILL OPTIMISTIC THAT MEDVEDEV WILL COMBAT CORRUPTION Classified By: Ambassador John Beyrle for reasons 1.4 b, d -------------- Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) In a November 14 meeting with the Ambassador, Transparency International's Executive Director Elena Panfilova said President Medvedev was taking concrete steps to follow through on his anti-corruption initiatives, motivated in part by a desire to distinguish his administration from the presidency of current Prime Minister Putin, and in part by a deeper understanding of corruption's social and economic costs. If he were successful in reining in petty corruption, that would be seen as Medvedev's most enduring legacy. She added that for the U.S., the global financial crisis provided an opportunity to draw Russia into international institutions and work with it bilaterally to combat corruption. -------------- Medvedev Tackling Corruption -------------- ¶2. (C) Panfilova told the Ambassador that Medvedev's administration had the potential to distinguish itself from Putin's in the area of combating corruption. Although Putin had mentioned corruption in all of his annual addresses, he had never taken any concrete action. Instead, Putin's political agenda had been Russia's economic boom, creating the vertical of power, and controlling the oligarchs. ¶3. (C) Medvedev would want to develop his own political agenda -- separate and distinct from his predecessor's. In that regard, in contrast to Putin, Medvedev had emphasized in his speeches not just corruption but more importantly the rule of law and freedom of entrepreneurship for SME's. Furthermore, Medvedev had already gone beyond Putin by taking concrete actions, including establishing a Council against Corruption, overseeing the drafting of an anti-corruption plan, and submitting legislation to the Duma which, for the first time in Russia, defined "corruption". Although Panfilova lamented that a definition of "public servant" was still lacking, she welcomed the establishment of a frame of reference for public and political discussion. ¶4. (C) According to Panfilova, another area distinguishing Medvedev from Putin was his "lawyer's love" for the sanctity of legal documents, such as the United Nations Convention Against Corruption. Medvedev was also more sensitive than Putin to international pressure to deal with the problem. For example, the EC Convention on Corruption that Russia had ratified in 2006 required Russia to report regularly on its level of compliance with the treaty. Medvedev was following through on this obligation, which Putin had largely ignored. She added that she felt Medvedev had a better understanding of the economic losses attributable to both petty and grand corruption. ¶5. (C) Panfilova said she was cautiously optimistic about Russia's future under Medvedev. There had been progress in the last eight years. Russians could now talk about corruption as a part of the nation's agenda and data about it could be published and debated. She conceded that Russia's anti-corruption legislation could be manipulated to undermine elites when politically expedient, but she was also hopeful that Medvedev would use it to rid Russia of petty corruption. She said that if successful, this would be Medvedev,s most enduring legacy. -------------- Opportunity for USG -------------- ¶6. (C) Panfilova said she thought the global financial crisis presented on opportunity for the U.S. to help to bring Russia into the global framework in an inclusive and constructive manner. She noted that the amount of liquidity that countries were injecting into their economies provided an opportunity to demand accountability on a global scale. This could encompass anti-corruption as well as anti-terrorism measures. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶7. (C) Medvedev may well have a better understanding than Putin of the costs of the corruption that permeates Russia and the high level corruption on display in the government's anti-crisis "rescue efforts" will only highlight them. It will require a great deal of tenacity from Medvedev, however, to tackle even petty corruption and make his efforts to date meaningful. Panfilova is not alone in believing that he can make progress. In the meantime, we should be sensitive to acknowledging the moves Russia has made and appreciating the tremendous resistance Medvedev has faced in getting this far. BEYRLE