NEW KHAKASSIA GOVERNOR PUSHES ECONOMIC REFORM,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 001185

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL KIRF SOCI RS
SUBJECT: NEW KHAKASSIA GOVERNOR PUSHES ECONOMIC REFORM,
SALUTES KREMLIN


1. (SBU) Summary. A recent trip to the small southern
Siberian republic of Khakassia revealed strong local
government clearly support for the United Russia party,
despite difficult economic challenges in the near future.
Newly-appointed Governor Zimin has established his reputation
as a Medvedev loyalist, having vowed in the runup to the
March 1 parliamentary elections to squash all opposition
parties. Economically, he made promises reminiscent of the
Communist era, pledging to improve Khakassia's living
standards by developing local agriculture and animal
husbandry. With close ties to Russian Railroad Director
Yakunin and Emergency Situations Minister Shoygu, Zimin
entered office well-positioned for success. However,
Khakassia's capital of Abakan boasts few serious business
ties and serves as a mere waystation for Trans-Siberian
travelers, complicating Zimin's ability to deliver from the
outset. Few social tensions burden the residents of
Khakassia, while academics applauded a rebirth in native
culture. Protestant religious groups, still reeling from
past harassment and discrimination, hope cautiously for
improved conditions for free religious observation. End
Summary.

United Russia: Leader of Pack in Khakassia
--------------


2. (SBU) Administration representatives welcomed the first
visit by an United States Government representative with some
trepidation, offering scripted support for United Russia (ER)
leadership. Electoral Commission Chairman Viktor Gubin
welcomed us to Khakassia by touting United Russia's recent
March 1 electoral success, even though the margin of victory
in the parliamentary elections proved slimmer than expected.
He told us April 27 that the United Russia party received
almost 56 percent of the votes (with a 46 percent turnout) in
the March 1 voting for the Supreme Council, easily surpassing
its nearest competitors from the Communist Party (15
percent),Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (10 percent),
Just Russia (7.6 percent),and the local Patriots of Russia
(7.5 percent),with the latter only being allowed to register
after intervention by the Russian Central Electoral
Commission. APN Moscow news agency reported on March 27,
however, that ER received just under 48 percent of the vote,
and that Zimin himself had tried to keep opposition parties
out of the race, promising to drive the "Patriots of Russia"
or similar opposition groups from the political stage.
According to a Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta article from
March 3, Zimin also had issued a pre-election warning to all
opposition candidates not to criticize the current regime.
APN claimed that the General Council of United Russia decided
to pay local party branches large sums of money for achieving
certain benchmarks, including a 750,000 ruble (approximately
22,700 USD) payout to regions which garnered from 55 to 70
percent of the vote, providing ER with a potential incentive
for vote rigging.

Kremlin Solidarity
--------------


3. (SBU) Zimin assumed his post on January 15, having been
nominated by Medvedev in December 2008. Zimin, who
reportedly maintains close ties to his former superior at the
Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin (Note: Zimin headed the
Krasnoyarsk Railway Department's Abakan Division until
December 2007) and Minister of Emergency Situations Sergey
Shoygu, served as a State Duma Deputy and replaced outgoing
Governor Aleksey Lebed. While rumors surrounded the
departure of Lebed, most experts were not surprised. A
recent index of governor's performances placed Lebed near the
bottom of the list, and First Deputy Minister of the
Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov commented on
February 17 that Lebed's removal was "hardly a random
decision." According to Russian daily Gazeta on December 8,
2008, Foundation for the Development of Information Policy's
regional program leader Aleksandr Kynev stated that the
locally popular Lebed, who had headed the region since 1996,
lost out to Zimin because of his tense relations with Moscow.
Hardly falling on tough times, Lebed managed to land a
position in the State Duma after his term expired.


4. (SBU) Khakassia Republic dual representative for the
Civil Front and Right Cause movements Galina Gorchakova
cautiously explained to us April 28 that, while she did not
necessarily support the views of the recently elected
governor of the Khakassia Republic, it was "too early to
judge his performance," noting that Zimin's push to improve
the republic's agriculture, transportation, and tourism
sectors could boost the welfare of the local population.
Admitting that local opposition movements had achieved
virtually zero traction with the republic's populace, she

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found herself acting more as a reporter than a political
organizer. The broad diversity of party representation in
local politics encouraged Gorchakova, but she doubted that
smaller parties would successfully voice their opinions,
ultimately becoming lapdogs of United Russia. Abakan City
Council Chairwoman Zinaida Telina gave us the official line
on April 28, saying that Zimin brought new energy to
Khakassia's development, and that the entire city government
stood "ready to support him at all levels."

Everything in the Periodic Table
--------------


5. (SBU) In Khakassia, Chamber of Commerce and Trade
President Serzh Bakhshiyevich Adamyan marketed the republic's
vast mineral reserves, repeating the old Soviet adage that
"every element in the periodic table was under the ground of
Khakassia." But when the discussion turned from potential to
productivity, he lamented how Khakassia's "unlucky global
position" made it difficult for investors to reach the
region. While hydroelectricity, light metals, and the coal
sector in Khakassia continued to serve as a backbone to its
financial stability, the region needed to concentrate on
expansion of its agricultural and animal husbandry sectors in
order to reduce the levels of imports it has historically
required. Adamyan added that the effects of global warming
had helped to diversify the region's crop yields, saying that
Siberians can now grow watermelons, apricots, and grapes. He
noted that the republic's strong ties with the EU, China,
Ukraine, Australia, and Turkey could serve as a launching pad
for future investment, which was not currently significant.
Khakassia's potential for tourism also stirred Adamyan to
produce pictures and short films of its natural treasures and
modern conveniences, including a state-of-the-art ski resort.
Unfortunately, Khakassia's position as the half-way point
between Moscow and Vladivostok gave few, including Adamyan,
the illusion that tourists would flock in great number to
Abakan.

Economy Going Down With Deripaska
--------------


6. (SBU) While agreeing that unemployment was higher than
the official level of 3.4 percent, Adamyan underlined the
region's independence from foreign labor and migration,
saying that the small Chinese, Tajik, and Kyrgyz diasporas
accounted for less than one percent of the total population.
The downturn in oligarch Oleg Deripaska's RusAl operations in
Krasnoyarsk had impacted the labor force and production
levels of Khakassia most severely, according to Adamyan,
causing a large but uncertain number of redundancies. While
the region had imported a large number of materials used in
aluminum foil production, those relationships with other
countries had recently dried up. United Russia continued to
mobilize support for its anti-crisis plan, organizing a rally
on January 31 with demonstrators bearing signs with the
slogan "People-Medvedev-Putin, We shall win Together!"
Considering that the average wage in Abakan totals just
17,000 rubles per month (approximately 515 USD),Adamyan
admitted that no level of government support will prevent
high school and college graduates from seeking more lucrative
opportunities in Moscow.

Cultural Revitalization
--------------


7. (SBU) Head researcher at Khakassia State University's
Humanitarian Research Institute Larissa Anzhiganova
characterized respect for Khakass culture in the republic as
"improved," and categorically better than in the Soviet era.
She drew attention to the increasing number of cultural
programs celebrating Khakass traditions, shamanism, and
ethnic diversity in the region, and noted that ethnic Khakass
had ascended to the highest ranks in local government and
business despite constituting only 12 percent of the
populace. Anzhiganova added that the Khakass language,
listed as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO, could also see a
resurgence because of the republic's internal migration
patterns. Young high school graduates from rural
Khakass-speaking families continued to move to Abakan in
search of work, bringing their language skills with them to
the Russian-speaking capital. Taking the next step from
preservation to expansion of the language will be more
difficult, she noted, since the number of teachers with
passable skills was low.

Religious Freedom For Most, But Not All
--------------


8. (SBU) While shamanism and Russian Orthodoxy flourish in

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the region, some religious groups suffer from government
interference. Though Deputy Minister of Inter-Ethnic and
Religious Affairs for the Republic of Khakassia Irina
Katsybina told us that there never have been any conflicts on
religious grounds in the republic, Pastor Ruslan Belokhevich
and Assistant Pastor Aleksandr Prus of the Glorification
Pentecostal Church in Abakan felt differently. They told us
on April 27 that although current conditions under Governor
Zimin appeared calm, the FSB had harassed numerous church
members from 2004 to 2006, and government officials had
denied their right to worship on many occasions. He
attributed the harassment to Putin's policies, but believed
that Medvedev would continue to pursue a more liberal path
that favored minority religions. The one issue which greatly
concerned them, however, was the recent appointment of
Alexander Dvorkin as the head of the Ministry of Justice's
Committee on Religious Expertise. Both pastors feared that
this development could signal an immediate deterioration of
conditions for evangelical Christians, and could impact the
effectiveness of the church's youth campaigns to combat drug
abuse and abortion. Noting that some other groups such as
Jehovah's Witnesses faced discrimination, Belokhevich said
that the Pentecostals had suffered the most at the hands of
the local authorities as he pulled the SIM card from his cell
phone to prevent FSB eavesdropping. Baptist pastor Sergey
Stalmatov also noted that the Pentecostals faced
disproportionate attention, but could not discern why.

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


9. (SBU) Abakan's position on a southern spur of the
Trans-Siberian Railroad will keep it relevant, especially if
large enterprises such as RusAl can again establish a strong
position in the region, but few will rush to exploit its
mineral or natural bounty. In order to expand its local
agriculture or tourism sectors, Khakassia will need massive
investment from the federal government, an unlikely
development considering Moscow's recent decision to decrease
allotments for infrastructure.
RUBIN