AMBASSADOR KENNEDY VISITS MOSCOW IN ADVANCE OF

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000774

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL SOCI KIRF RS
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR KENNEDY VISITS MOSCOW IN ADVANCE OF
2009 PRAGUE CONFERENCE


1. (SBU) Summary. Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues
Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy visited Moscow from March 22
to 25 to meet with Russian counterparts in advance of the
June 2009 Prague Conference on Holocaust Era Assets.
Ambassador Kennedy liaised with GOR representatives, NGO
activists, Jewish community leaders, and art experts to pave
the way for the conference, encouraging a recommitment to the
Washington Principles on Nazi-Confiscated Art (outlined in
the 1998 Washington Conference). Discussions revealed that
while GOR interlocutors expressed goodwill and interest in
cooperation, public sensitivity about World War II
remuneration remained high. Jewish leaders expressed the
need to navigate carefully any proposed property restitution
to avoid an increase in anti-Semitism. Ambassador Kennedy
also visited the Schneersohn Collection and discussed the
importance to the Chabad community. End Summary.

Shvydkoy Cooperative Ahead of Prague Conference
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2. (SBU) Ambassador Kennedy met with Special Consultant to
the Russian President on Communications and Mass Media
Mikhail Shvydkoy on March 23 to exchange viewpoints before
formal negotiations at the Prague Conference in June 2009.
Former Russian Minister of Culture Shvydkoy agreed with
Ambassador Kennedy that historical revisionism was extremely
detrimental to Holocaust education, proposing this subject as
the focus point for discussions in Prague. He suggested that
property restitution issues would not be appropriate for the
conference, preferring constructive talks on improving
universal "spiritual values" related to the sufferings of the
Holocaust. Moreover, Shvydkoy stressed that any public acts
of restitution -- including the return of art and books taken
by Soviet forces from the Nazi regime -- would cause a
"public scandal" and must be avoided at all costs. He
explained that all things connected to World War II in Russia
remained "very sensitive," and common sense dictated a very
deliberate approach to such issues. He noted that
discussions on property restitution should not progress until
parties created and shared detailed inventories of the
disputed items, but conceded that progress could be made on
the Schneersohn Collection in the future.

Schneersohn Collection, Document Sharing
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3. (SBU) Ambassador Kennedy met with Russian State Library
(RSL) Deputy Director General Nina Khakhaleva on March 24 to
discuss opportunities for cooperation on shared Holocaust-era
archives, specifically regarding Nazi police and deportation
records, slave-enforced labor, and displaced persons. While
acknowledging its importance, Khakhaleva noted the difficulty
and cost of document sharing, commenting on RSL's current
painful transition from a paper-based catalog system to an
electronic system. She also added that the Russian
Historical Military Archives received all files obtained
during campaigns against the Nazis, saying that the RSL was
not in a position to share this information. Ambassador
Kennedy informed Khakhaleva that the United States would
rotate into the presidency of the International Tracking
Service (ITS) in May 2009, and hoped to advance the proposal
of the creation of a network allowing scholars to search all
related archives. Khakhaleva responded with interest, asking
Ambassador Kennedy for a concrete proposal on how the Russian
government could cooperate with the ITS.


4. (SBU) Khakhaleva escorted Ambassador Kennedy to meet RSL
Oriental Center Director Sergey Kukushkin for a viewing of
the Schneersohn Collection. On Ambassador Kennedy's inquiry
about the Collection, Khakhaleva commented that the
Schneersohn Collection had no relation to the Holocaust, but
agreed that the Chabad community held these works in high
regard. Ambassador Kennedy stressed the importance of
safeguarding the collection. Khakhaleva told Ambassador
Kennedy that the RSL did not rule out the possibility of
digitizing them in the future, and would allow anyone
(including Chabad) to visit the Collection during business
hours. Kukushkin showed Ambassador Kennedy samples from the
Collection and elaborated on the Oriental Center's catalog
system, which listed the Collection's oldest book as being
written in the 16th century.

Jewish Community Leaders Sensitive to Property Issues
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5. (SBU) Jewish community leaders offered different views on
prospects for the return of property, Judaica, and archives
to communities throughout Russia. Federation of Jewish
Communities of Russia (FEOR) Director Aleksandr Boroda told
Ambassador Kennedy on March 23 that the GOR viewed the
transport of any Holocaust-era archives outside the country

as unacceptable, but did see some progress domestically. He
believed that the most likely path for obtaining Jewish
community records would be through long-term loans from the
GOR, which would provide de facto full use of the documents
in lieu of ownership. As with any issue involving the Jewish
community, he noted the need to avoid the public eye as any
favoritism shown towards Russian Jewry could stir
anti-Semitism.


6. (SBU) With regards to the return of precious Judaica,
Boroda said that the GOR required beneficiary communities to
have a suitable museum or storage facility to preserve any
state valuables. Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) Director
Yuriy Kanner told Ambassador Kennedy on March 25 that he
believed the Moscow Jewish community could easily produce the
necessary funds for such a facility, but long-term financial
questions could only be solved through the creation of a
foundation. Concerning property, Boroda mentioned that the
GOR had a program to return synagogues to the Jewish
community, but there was no money in the budget for the
program. Additionally, communities that received religious
buildings from the government did not have sufficient funding
for their maintenance.

Ambassador Allowed to See Disputed Art
--------------


7. (SBU) Ambassador Kennedy visited the Pushkin State Museum
of Fine Art on March 24 to verify the condition of two works
of art claimed by AmCit families. The meeting, initially
refused by the museum and the Ministry of Culture, was
arranged shortly after Ambassador Kennedy's discussions with
Shvydkoy, suggesting the latter's interest in facilitating
better relations. Deputy Director and Curator for the
Pushkin Museum, Tatiana Potapova, blocked off a section of
the museum for a private viewing, during which she and other
museum experts conversed with Ambassador Kennedy about the
style and condition of the works.


8. (SBU) Ambassador Kennedy also met with Russian art dealer
and expert Andrei Ruzhnikov at his gallery below the Moscow
Ritz-Carlton. Ruzhnikov boasted of his extensive knowledge
of the Russian art market, and provided several anecdotes
about his connections with high-powered and corrupt Russian
officials to validate his claims. After a private tour of
his high-security showroom that included an original Renoir
painting and extensive collections of tsarist-era enamel art,
he claimed no knowledge of rumors that art looted from Nazi
camps at the end of World War II existed in Russia, saying
that he "would have heard about them" by now.

Anti-Semitism: Not Official Policy, but Has Deep Roots
-------------- --------------


9. (SBU) Ambassador Kennedy met with SOVA Center Deputy
Director Galina Kozhevnikova on March 24 to discuss the
current state of xenophobia in Russia, including an
assessment of Russian anti-Semitism. Kozhevnikova explained
that while no official policy of anti-Semitism exists in
Russia (FEOR's Boroda agreed),most extremist-nationalist
groups based their ideology on anti-Semitism even though they
actively avoided using anti-Semitic slogans. She noted that
Jews in Russia held fewer leadership roles in government and
the financial market than in the past, pushing negative
perceptions of Jews onto the backburner of phobias. Some
nationalist groups like the Movement Against Illegal
Immigration (DPNI) and Slavic Union began using anti-Semitic
propaganda more often in 2006, but with little public
resonance. She added that the GOR actively prosecuted
anti-Semitic activities (Note: she said it was easy for law
enforcement to recognize anti-Semitic acts),deterring groups
from espousing such comments. Both Boroda and Kozhevnikova
differentiated between violent xenophobes, who have committed
crimes against Jews in Russia, and "household anti-Semites"
who regularly discriminate against Jews.


10. (SBU) On the subject of Holocaust education in Russia,
Kozhevnikova told Ambassador Kennedy that teachers spent
very little time, if any, covering the Holocaust in secondary
schools. Moscow Bureau for Human Rights Director Aleksandr
Brod told Ambassador Kennedy on March 25 that the GOR avoided
focusing on the Jewish Holocaust as a specific subject in the
educational system, saying any preferential attention given
to one genocide would unfairly lessen the suffering of the
other groups liquidated during the Stalin era. While the GOR
prohibited officials from making anti-Semitic statements,
several authors published anti-Semitic books every year,
selling over 500,000 copies at book fairs in Russia annually.
Many of these books, according to Brod, are blessed by local
Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) priests. Boroda added that the
resurgence of the ROC has generated an increase of

anti-Semitism, especially in the number of print publications
lambasting Jewish culture, but expected that the demographic
crisis would turn more Russians against Muslims in the future.

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


11. (SBU) Shvydkoy's interest in a "unified" position at the
Prague Conference suggests that there is room for negotiation
on key Holocaust-era issues. Domestic sensitivity to issues
related to the Great Patriotic War, however, limits GOR
flexibility just as the fear of increasing anti-Semitism
limits Jewish community efforts.


12. (U) Ambassador Kennedy did not have an opportunity to
clear this message.
BEYRLE