Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MOSCOW572
2009-03-10 14:04:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:  

THE RUSSIAN MFA: AN ANACHRONISM CREEPING TOWARD

Tags:  PGOV PREL PINR OFDP RS 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5187
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #0572/01 0691404
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 101404Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2290
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 000572 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR OFDP RS
SUBJECT: THE RUSSIAN MFA: AN ANACHRONISM CREEPING TOWARD
THE 21ST CENTURY

REF: 08 MOSCOW 3086

Classified By: Ambassador John Beyrle for reasons 1.4 (b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 000572

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR OFDP RS
SUBJECT: THE RUSSIAN MFA: AN ANACHRONISM CREEPING TOWARD
THE 21ST CENTURY

REF: 08 MOSCOW 3086

Classified By: Ambassador John Beyrle for reasons 1.4 (b/d).


1. (C) Summary: Dealing with the MFA, the bread and butter
of any embassy, takes on peculiar characteristics in Moscow,
where the congenial relationships we may develop with
individual Russian diplomats are tempered by a hierarchical
bureaucracy whose predilection to maintain control of its
staff defines, and often impedes, our ability to work with
the GOR. Operating from a Stalinist-era landmark that
appears destined to keep the MFA firmly rooted in the past,
the ministry relies upon outdated communications technology
that frustrates our ability to have direct contact with
Russian diplomats who decline to provide their office phone
numbers, rarely break the injunction against giving out cell
phone numbers, and only occasionally use email. The MFA
discourages holding outside meetings with foreign diplomats
and requires that staff be accompanied to social events.
There are exceptions to these rules, and our level of access
differs among MFA departments. The Middle East and North
Africa Department is notorious within the diplomatic
community for its inaccessibility, but even our typically
hospitable relationship with the North America Department is
hampered by the Russians' reluctance to ease communication.
Paired with reftel report on the working conditions of
Russian diplomats, we have attempted to illustrate the unique
atmosphere that colors our working-level experience of
Moscow. End summary.

A Stalinist Monument
--------------


2. (U) Housed in an imposing Stalinist-era skyscraper, one of
Moscow's famous Seven Sisters, this symbol of the apotheosis
of the victorious, post-war Soviet Union was constructed from
1946 to 1953, reportedly with the labor of German POWs.
Completed the same year as Stalin's death, and just before
the Department's modern building was begun in 1957, the MFA
was an anachronism from the time it opened. Still bedecked
inside and out with the hammer and sickle and other communist
regalia, the lobby includes a single physical testament to
the passing of an era in the form of a modest monument to the

Russian diplomats killed during the Stalinist purges.


3. (U) American diplomats who complain about the sterility of
the Department's Harry S. Truman Building are typically
pleased by the MFA's ornate marble and gold leafed lobby, and
wood paneled halls and offices. These grand surroundings
belie the fact that Russian diplomats continue to work in
conditions unchanged from the 1950s, with several staff
members sharing open offices lined with worn wood desks
without computers. The preponderance of male diplomats, with
women in subordinate roles, and wafting cigarette smoke
enhances the sense of having entered another era (reftel).

Maintaining Control
--------------


4. (C) The MFA is reluctant to allow foreign diplomats
unfettered communication with its staff, requiring that
nearly all contacts be made through central phone numbers and
prohibiting Russian diplomats from providing cell phone
numbers. This situation reflects an extraordinarily
hierarchical organizational structure that places a premium
on rank and the need to control underlings, and may also be
intended to allow appropriate monitoring of communications by
the security services.


5. (C) While access to the MFA is relatively easy if one has
an appointment, security is provided by the Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MVD),which has officers at each entrance
who can monitor the comings and goings of foreign diplomats.
Our meetings with Russian diplomats take place in various
places within the MFA, including reception areas, conference
rooms, and private offices, suggesting that if our
conversations are being monitored the entire building is
wired for sound. Holding discussions with foreign diplomats
in the cafeteria or other common areas within the building is
strictly forbidden in what appears to be an attempt to limit
unapproved contacts and the chance that we may overhear
conversations. Meeting Russian diplomats outside the MFA
occurs rarely, except at official receptions. We understand
that our Russian colleagues must receive permission from
their superiors before meeting foreign diplomats for lunch,
and, if they wish to attend an informal, after hours social
event hosted by a foreigner, must be accompanied by a second
MFA colleague.

Please Hold............

MOSCOW 00000572 002 OF 003


--------------


6. (C) The difficulty in contacting Russian diplomats
directly is among the greatest frustrations we face. Most do
not provide direct phone numbers (many don't have business
cards or refuse to provide them),giving only the number to
the secretary for an entire department. In a few cases,
Russians newly returned from posts abroad have given us
direct phone numbers and offered to speak with us anytime,
but had to withdraw these offers after being reprimanded for
"violating protocol." When calling the central phone numbers
provided, it is rare to be transferred to another phone line,
and if you hope to speak to someone directly they are often
summoned from their office to the secretary's desk. Neither
the secretaries nor others in the MFA have multiple phone
lines or voice mail, and busy signals are a common
occurrence. Secretaries rarely take messages, asking us
instead to call back, which requires us to make repeated
stalker-like phone calls.


7. (C) An important exception came during the Georgia crisis
in August 2008, when the need for constant communication led
Russian diplomats to provide us their direct lines and even
cell phone numbers, although once the crisis passed,
formality returned and all communication once again went
through secretaries and general numbers. The MFA does not
have an Ops Center-like 24-hour operation, and relies upon
duty officers who typically respond that they will pass the
message but we should call back during working hours, or on
Monday.

Email? Never heard of it.
--------------


8. (C) Communicating with Russian diplomats via email is
virtually impossible, and our contacts do not suggest
reaching them in this manner as entire departments rely upon
a general email address that is checked with little
frequency. In some cases, diplomats may provide a personal
email address that they use for official purposes, but their
ability to check these accounts regularly is hampered by the
fact that most desktop computers in the MFA do not have
internet access, which is limited to a handful of general
terminals. We understand that an internal, Lotus-based email
system exists, but is not used by the many technology-averse
Russians in the senior ranks who frown upon their junior
staff relying upon the internet. Secretaries take dictation
for the old guard, and typists continue clacking away.

MFA Department Profiles
--------------


9. (C) There are always exceptions to the rules at the MFA,
indicating that the organization does not operate
monolithically and various offices have a distinctive
character that appear to be set by their management:

-- The North American Department (NA) is our main point of
contact for discussing bilateral political issues and
arranging high-level meetings and phone calls for Washington
principals, but is typically out of the loop on bilateral
economic matters. While we work well with the NA staff, we
have been provided a single phone number for the entire
department, which we must use even to reach the desk officer
who fields most of our requests. Busy signals often
frustrate our ability to respond to short-fuse taskings from
Washington.

-- The Middle East and North Africa Department (MENA) is
notorious among foreign diplomats who must wait long periods
to have appointment requests confirmed or simply ignored.
While certain offices within the department are responsive to
requests for meetings -- the Israel and Palestine desk is one
-- others, such as the Libya desk, have made us wait for
weeks to provide a low-ranking official who has little
information to offer. Despite years of effort, we have never
met the Syria desk officer, and have had to rely upon
information gleaned from the Israel and Lebanon desks for our
reporting.

-- In contrast to MENA, the chiefs of the Afghanistan, India,
Iran, and Pakistan desks in the Second Asia Department are
easy to reach by phone (some even give out their direct
numbers) and typically available on short notice for
meetings. Following important visits, the department has
arranged general briefings for the diplomatic corps to avoid
a parade of foreign diplomats into their offices for
individual meetings.

-- Certain staff in the Department for General European

MOSCOW 00000572 003 OF 003


Cooperation, responsible for relations with the EU, OSCE,
NATO, and the Council of Europe, are IT friendly and willing
to talk on the phone, although getting an appointment can
take time and may require submitting a list of questions in
advance. The Director has requested that we correspond via
his personal email account, and the deputy directors and unit
heads have internet access at their desks. A senior
counselor on the OSCE desk said that he was required to
attend a multiple-week training session on using the internet
at the MFA's Institute for Diplomacy.

-- The First Asia Department's China desk is approachable
relative to other MFA offices, although the Korea desk has
taken on the qualities of Pyongyang, proving elusive and even
suspicious of third country diplomats. When we recently
called the head of the desk via his direct number, obtained
from a new staff member who may have violated protocol, he
seemed surprised and proved unable to agree to a meeting to
discuss North Korea without approval from higher up. We are
still waiting for a response.

-- The Department of Security Affairs and Disarmament (DVBR
in Russian) is particularly protocol conscious, taking care
to pair us with equivalent or lower ranking diplomats,
whereas in other departments MFA senior counselors may be the
regular contacts of our first and second secretaries. DVBR
is often tight-lipped with information and its staff have
come across as hostile when receiving our demarches.

-- The relatively young, female, and technically savvy staff
of the Department of New Threats and Challenges reflects its
recent formation to deal with terrorism and transnational
crime (reftel). The junior diplomats are among the most open
to communication via email, have provided us direct phone and
cell phone numbers, and shared their frustrations with the
MFA's outdated information technology. The department
includes staff from DVBR responsible for civilian science and
technology issues who were separated from that department at
their own request. Civilian nuclear issues remain with DVBR,
and the two departments are still sorting out turf issues.

-- Befitting an office staffed with diplomats who served in
New York or Geneva, the Department of International
Organizations (IO) exudes a professionally convivial
atmosphere, in which certain staff have freely provided cell
phone numbers and personal email addresses, especially to
those they may know from previous posts. Unfortunately, this
does not necessarily translate into immediate, substantive
answers to UN-related demarches, and IO can push
responsibility on certain issues off to other departments.
This IO predilection is so notorious that diplomats in DVBR
have cautioned us not to let ourselves get brushed off by IO,
which also covers environment, technology and health issues
for the MFA.

-- Certain offices take on the character of the person
heading them, such as the ASEAN office led by a gregarious
second generation diplomat who speaks American accented
English thanks to his father's long posting to Washington
(his brother currently serves at the Russian mission in New
York),and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization office, the
chief of which has even seen us the same day we asked to
meet. Once these individuals leave for new posts, we may not
be so fortunate, as the MFA still has plenty of Soviet-like
diplomats prone to regurgitating talking points.

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


10. (C) As is the case with any diplomat working abroad,
learning how to overcome the impediments inherent in the host
country's bureaucracy is a crucial part of the job. In
Moscow, this can often be accomplished by establishing
personal relationships with those Russian diplomats who are
most open to meeting and prove to be engaging interlocutors.
Of course, this still requires us to get in the door of the
MFA, which does not happen as frequently or in as timely a
fashion as we would like. There appears to be a quiet change
going on within the MFA, with a willingness by a new
generation to adopt information technology, although this
still leaves the ministry decades behind the U.S. and Europe
and well behind the Russian public's use of the internet.
BEYRLE