RUSSIAN CALLS FOR DIALOGUE, NOT PRESSURE AT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 002108 SIPDIS FOR EUR/RUS AND DRL E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/18/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM PHUM PINR OSCE RS SUBJECT: RUSSIAN CALLS FOR DIALOGUE, NOT PRESSURE AT UPCOMING OSCE HUMAN DIMENSION MEETING REF: STATE 78227 Classified By: Acting Political Minister Counselor David Kostelancik; r eason 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) Per reftel request, we delivered USG views on Russia's human rights and democracy performance to Tatyana Sulitskaya, Head of the European Division of the Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights. Sulitskaya called for a real dialogue on human rights at the upcoming OSCE Human Dimension Meeting (HIDM) to be held in Warsaw September 28 through October 8 in the spirit of the new relationship between the United States and the Russian Federation exemplified by the July 2009 visit to Moscow by President Obama. ¶2. (C) Sulitskaya warned that, while the U.S. was free to use its time at the HIDM as it saw fit, using human rights concerns as a "tool of pressure" would create an immediate negative reaction from the Russian delegation and would not create the dialogue on the subject that is necessary for real progress on these important issues. She added that in the "rare instances" in which there has been progress on human rights, such as increasing religious freedom, it was made possible when the two countries had engaged in a constructive dialogue on the subject. She cited the cooperation between the U.S. and Russian delegations at a recent OSCE conference in Vienna on religious freedom. Sulitskaya had no substantive response to any of the specific points in reftel demarche. ¶3. (SBU) Sulitskaya confirmed that the Russian delegation to the HIDM would be led by Oleg Mal'ginov, Director of the MFA's Department for Humanitarian Cooperation and Human Rights, although she noted that he would only be physically present in Warsaw for three or four days during the HIDM. In Mal'ginov's absence, the Russian delegation will be led by either Mal'ginov's deputy Andrey Nikiforov or Russia's Permanent Ambassador to the OSCE Anvar Asimov. RUBIN