"DA, WE CAN": OPTIMISM SWEEPS CIVIL SOCIETY SUMMIT

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 001797 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KDEM RS SUBJECT: "DA, WE CAN": OPTIMISM SWEEPS CIVIL SOCIETY SUMMIT REF: MOSCOW 1620 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Civil Society Summit of July 6-7 brought together approximately 100 NGO representatives from both the U.S. and Russia. Although participants were pleased with the detailed results of the Summit's various Working Groups, they saved their most effusive praise for President Obama, noting his own past as a community organizer and calling him "one of us." Two factors remained to dampen the excitement: the absence of Medvedev at the Summit, and the decision to appoint conservative Kremlin Chief of Staff Vyacheslav Surkov to head up the Russian side of the newly created bilateral commission on Civil Society. Nonetheless, the existence of this commission indicates that this Summit will likely contribute to bilateral cooperation in this area, both at the government and at the NGO level. End Summary. Summit goals: Change the tone, get something done -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) The Civil Society Summit of July 6-7, brought together in Moscow approximately 100 NGO representatives from both the U.S. and Russia, working in areas such as the environment, community development, education, health, anti-corruption, and human rights. Groups identified areas for civil society collaboration and joint efforts to address common challenges. Organized by the New Eurasia Fund (NEF) in Russia and the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the U.S., the Summit was designed to parallel the bilateral summit between Presidents Obama and Medvedev; as Human Rights Watch Russia director Allison Gill told us July 9, "the two civil societies have grown apart as the two governments have," making this Civil Society Summit, as NEF chief Andrey Kortunov said at the event, "an important first step." ¶3. (SBU) In general participants -- especially those from less populous regions -- who address technical aspects of environmental protection, housing, community economic development, youth engagement, and encouragement of more healthy living, all appreciated the opportunity to meet their counterparts, with some Americans interacting with Russian civic leaders for the first time. They all committed themselves personally and professionally to maintaining contacts and sharing information and state-of-the-art models in their sectors. ¶4. (SBU) At the conference, a number of human rights representatives noted that challenges in Russia -- such as security, political prisoners, and working conditions for NGOs -- remain more severe for Russian NGOs than for their American counterparts. At the same time, they said that it will be important to shift the paradigm of U.S. civil society "assistance," replacing it with mutual cooperation on issues that both countries face, with the U.S. side scrupulously avoiding a lecturing or paternalistic tone. To achieve this careful balance, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) within the larger Civil Society Summit recommended including both Russian and American government officials and civil society representatives in the dialogue, as well as addressing priority topics for both countries. (Note: The bilateral commission on civil society, with NSC Senior Russia Director Mike McFaul representing the U.S. and Kremlin Chief of Staff Vyacheslav Surkov the Russian side, is likely to begin work in the fall. End Note.) The HRWG's specific recommendations noted problems with human rights practices in both countries, such as the need for the U.S. to close Guantanamo, and for Russia to "improve the climate for human rights NGOs and independent reporters in Russia." Bravo to the Americans! -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Although most Russian human rights defenders are conditioned to temper any occasional euphoria, the combination of the Civil Society Summit's concrete recommendations and President Obama's star power left Russian human rights activists at the who participated feeling upbeat and energized. Veteran activist Lyudmila Alekseyeva, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group (MHG),sang President Obama's praises to us July 9, and exclaimed, "Bravo to the Americans!" for electing him. She also expressed the belief that the Civil Society Summit in general, and particularly the individual working groups, "went beyond pretty words" in their discussions and recommendations to the two Presidents. Svetlana Gannushkina of Civic Assistance, who also serves on Medvedev's Human Rights Council, similarly told us that she had found the Civil Society Summit's work useful, and had been "dazzled" by Obama's speech, which she called "a surprising feeling." Noting that Obama himself had once worked as a community organizer, she said that the consensus MOSCOW 00001797 002 OF 003 among those present was that he is "one of us," a member of the civil society brotherhood. ¶6. (SBU) Some participants viewed the event in a more sober light. Human Rights Watch's Gill was circumspect, calling the HRWG's accomplishments "a good start," but noting that a Civil Society G-8 had taken place alongside a G-8 meeting three years ago, and that nothing had resulted from it. Oleg Orlov of Memorial, speaking to us July 9, also cautioned against reading too much into the event, but said that it was "interesting" to hear Obama's perspective, and "useful" to get human rights defenders together to talk, something he noted happens too rarely. ¶7. (SBU) In the media, although some writers had feared that Obama would eschew direct criticism of the GOR's human rights record, most commentators agreed that he had managed to raise the important issues, while remaining respectful. Transparency International Russia head Yelena Panfilova, who delivered a speech on anti-corruption efforts to Obama at the Civil Society Summit, was pleased with Obama's efforts to remove any perceived paternalism from U.S. discussion of Russia's record. Lev Ponomarev of For Human Rights would have liked to have heard more from Obama about the Khodorkovskiy case, although he noted with satisfaction that the HRWG explicitly acknowledged "the existence of politically motivated justice" in Russia. Tatyana Stanovaya of the Center for Political Technologies wrote on politcom.ru that the process of reset will take some time, but that it is clear that it will apply to civil society and that it will continue. She said that the U.S. has made it clear that democracy and human rights will remain part of the dialogue, and that there are enough points of mutual concern that Russia will be able to bring to the table to enable the "political will" for dialogue on their end. Two disappointments -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Both in the media and among our contacts, nearly all observers pointed to the absence of Medvedev at the Summit as a discouraging sign. Gannushkina called his absence "ominous," especially when combined with the Kremlin's decision to appoint conservative Kremlin Chief of Staff Vyacheslav Surkov to head up the Russian side of the newly created bilateral commission on Civil Society. Orlov speculated that Medvedev avoided the Civil Society Summit in order to signal to conservative elites that there are limits to how far he will go in reforming society and defying their wishes. (Note: In a press conference following the Civil Society Summit, Ella Pamfilova, who heads the Presidential Council on Civil Society and Human Rights, claimed that Medvedev had not received the invitation in time to act on it. End Note.) ¶9. (SBU) As for Surkov, on July 8, immediately after the Civil Society Summit, a group of 22 human rights activists meeting at the Sakharov Center signed an open letter to Medvedev and Obama, published on the MHG website, urging Medvedev to re-examine his decision to appoint Surkov. Ponomarev told the mainstream liberal business daily Vedomosti on July 9 that he had little doubt that Surkov would marginalize the most influential activists, and that the commission would remain under Kremlin control "like the Public Chamber." Medvedev had already disappointed rights activists in May by appointing Surkov to head the working group formed to re-work a deeply unpopular 2006 law which placed a number of burdensome registration restrictions on NGOs (reftel). The group produced modest, though concrete, results, with a law passing the State Duma in June meaningfully easing registration for about one-third of Russian NGOs, and providing no improvement in the law for foreign-funded NGOs. Comment -------------- ¶10. (SBU) Both the U.S. and the GOR must now accomplish a balancing act in promoting civil society. For the U.S., the challenge will be how to address the clear asymmetry between the two countries in human rights problems, while still changing the perception of paternalism into one of mutual respect and cooperation. For the GOR, and Medvedev in particular, it will be how to show that he is serious about reforming systemic political, legal, and social degradation in Russia, while at the same time avoiding accusations from conservatives that he is selling out to the West and returning the country to the dreaded 1990s. Human rights defenders and other commentators appear confident in Obama's ability to attain this balance, but are less sure about Medvedev. His choice of Surkov to head the bilateral MOSCOW 00001797 003 OF 003 commission is a clear attempt by the Kremlin to have it both ways, as the commission represents a concrete piece of potential progress, while Surkov has already established his conservative bona fides as the author of "sovereign democracy" and the main obstacle to greater progress on amending the NGO law. BEYRLE