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

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Summary
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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.

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Medvedev Tackling Corruption
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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.

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Opportunity for USG
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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.

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Comment

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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