RUSSIA--2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 06 STATE 060626

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELAB KCRM KWMN PGOV PHUM PREL SMIG KPAO KTIP RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA--2009 TIP REPORT: PRESS GUIDANCE AND
DEMARCHE

REF: A. 2009 STATE 59732

B. 2009 STATE 5577


1. This is an action cable; see paras 5 through 7 and 10.


2. On June 16, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, the Secretary will
release the 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report at a
press conference in the Department's press briefing room.
This release will receive substantial coverage in domestic
and foreign news outlets. Until the time of the Secretary's
June 16 press conference, any public release of the Report or
country narratives contained therein is prohibited.


3. The Department is hereby providing Post with advance press
guidance to be used on June 16 or thereafter. Also provided
is demarche language to be used in informing the Government
of Russia of its tier ranking and the TIP Report's imminent
release. The text of the TIP Report country narrative is
provided, both for use in informing the Government of Russia
and in any local media release by Post's public affairs
section on June 16 or thereafter. Drawing on information
provided below in paras 8 and 9, Post may provide the host
government with the text of the TIP Report narrative no
earlier than 1200 noon local time Monday June 15 for WHA, AF,
EUR, and NEA countries and OOB local time Tuesday June 16 for
SCA and EAP posts. Please note, however, that any public
release of the Report's information should not/not precede
the Secretary's release at 10:00 am EDT on June 16.


4. The entire TIP Report will be available on-line at
www.state.gov/g/tip shortly after the Secretary's June 16
release. Hard copies of the Report will be pouched to posts
in all countries appearing on the Report. The Secretary's
statement at the June 16 press event, and the statement of
and fielding of media questions by G/TIP,s Director and
Senior Advisor to the Secretary, Ambassador-at-Large Luis
CdeBaca, will be available on the Department's website
shortly after the June 16 event. Ambassador de Baca will
also hold a general briefing for officials of foreign
embassies in Washington DC on June 17 at 3:30 pm EDT.


5. Action Request: No earlier than 12 noon local time on
Monday June 15 for WHA, AF, EUR, and NEA posts and OOB local
time on Tuesday June 16 for SCA and EAP posts, please inform
the appropriate official in the Government of Russia of the
June 16 release of the 2009 TIP Report, drawing on the points
in para 9 (at Post's discretion) and including the text of
the country narrative provided in para 8. For countries
where the State Department has lowered the tier ranking, it
is particularly important to advise governments prior to the
Report being released in Washington on June 16.


6. Action Request continued: Please note that, for those
countries which will not receive an "action plan" with
specific recommendations for improvement, posts should draw
host governments' attention to the areas for improvement
identified in the 2009 Report, especially highlighted in the
"Recommendations" section of the second paragraph of the
narrative text. This engagement is important to establishing
the framework in which the government's performance will be
judged for the 2010 Report. If posts have questions about
which governments will receive an action plan, or how they
may follow up on the recommendations in the 2009 Report,
please contact G/TIP and the appropriate regional bureau.


7. Action Request continued: On June 16, please be prepared
to answer media inquiries on the Report's release using the
press guidance provided in para 11. If Post wishes, a local
press statement may be released on or after 10:30 am EDT June
16, drawing on the press guidance and the text of the TIP
Report's country narrative provided in para 8.


8. Begin Final Text of Russia,s country narrative in the
2009 TIP Report:

--------------
Russia (TIER 2 Watch List)
--------------

Russia is a source, transit, and destination country for men,
women, and children trafficked for the purposes of forced
labor and commercial sexual exploitation. Men and women from
the Russian Far East are trafficked to South Korea, China,
Bahrain, Oman, Japan, and South Korea for purposes of sexual
exploitation, debt bondage, and forced labor, including in

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the agricultural and fishing sectors. Some Russian women are
trafficked to Turkey, Greece, South Africa, Germany, Poland,
Italy, Israel, Spain, Vietnam, Thailand, Australia, New
Zealand, and the Middle East for the purpose of commercial
sexual exploitation. Men and women from Central Asia and
Ukraine are trafficked to the Russian Far East for the
purpose of forced labor, including victims trafficked for
forced labor in the fishing industry. The ILO reports that
labor trafficking is the most predominant form of trafficking
in Russia. Men and women are trafficked within Russia and
from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Moldova
to Russia for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation
and forced labor, including work in the construction
industry. A significant number of men from Belarus are
trafficked to Russia for the purpose of forced labor in the
construction, manufacturing, and fishing sectors. Moscow and
St. Petersburg have been destinations for children trafficked
within Russia and from Ukraine and Moldova for purposes of
sexual exploitation and forced begging. Men from Western
Europe and the United States travel to Western Russia,
specifically St. Petersburg for the purpose of child sex
tourism; experts continue to credit a decrease in the number
of child victims in these cities to aggressive police
investigations and Russian cooperation with foreign law
enforcement.

The Government of the Russian Federation does not fully
comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of
trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do
so. Despite these significant efforts, the government over
the last year: decreased the number of reported trafficking
investigations, prosecutions, and convictions; did not
vigorously prosecute, convict, and punish government
officials; made no significant efforts to improve efforts to
identify and assist victims of trafficking; and did not make
adequate efforts to address labor trafficking; therefore,
Russia is placed on Tier 2 Watch List. Victim identification
and assistance remained inadequate and varied in quality and
availability, despite efforts by some regional and local
authorities. The federal government did not dedicate funding
to anti-trafficking activities or trafficking victim
assistance during the reporting period; and, despite limited
funding by some local governments, the majority of shelter
and direct trafficking assistance continued to be provided by
foreign-funded international organizations and NGOs.

Recommendations for Russia: Develop and implement a
comprehensive national strategy that addresses all forms of
trafficking and provides comprehensive victim assistance
throughout Russia; provide funding from federal, regional,
and/or municipal budgets to implement this national
strategy; allocate funding to anti-trafficking NGOs that
provide victim assistance and rehabilitative care; increase
the number of victims identified and assisted; designate
trafficking-specific responsibilities to relevant government
ministries on the national and regional levels; establish an
official federal coordinating body with the authority to
implement the national strategy; increase the number of
investigations, prosecutions, and convictions for trafficking
offenses, particularly government officials complicit in
trafficking; ensure convicted traffickers and convicted
complicit officials are sentenced to some time in prison;
create a central repository for investigation, prosecution,
conviction, and sentencing data for trafficking cases;
continue efforts to raise public awareness of both sex and
labor trafficking; increase efforts to investigate,
prosecute, convict, and punish labor trafficking offenses;
and continue to take steps to prevent the use of forced labor
in construction projects for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Prosecution
--------------

The Government of the Russian Federation sustained its
investigation efforts, but reported limited prosecution and
no conviction efforts during the reporting period. Article
127 of the Russian Criminal Code prohibits both trafficking
for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor. Other
criminal statutes are also used to prosecute and convict
traffickers. Article 127 provides punishments of up to five
years, imprisonment for trafficking crimes and aggravating
circumstances may extend penalties up to 15 years,
imprisonment; this is commensurate with punishments
prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. In 2008,
police conducted 111 trafficking investigations under Article
127 -- 95 for sex trafficking and 16 for forced labor cases
-- down from 139 trafficking investigations in 2007. It was
difficult to ascertain the exact number of prosecutions and
convictions resulting from these investigations because the
government again did not collect and maintain such
statistics. At least nine traffickers were prosecuted during

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the reporting period, compared with at least 46 prosecutions
in 2007. The government did not report the number of
convicted traffickers or those sentenced to serve time in
prison during the reporting period. In July 2006, the Duma
passed asset forfeiture legislation that permits prosecutors
to forfeit the assets of convicted persons, including
traffickers; however, there were no reports that the law has
been used against human traffickers since its enactment.

In 2008, authorities reportedly investigated three high-level
officials for possible involvement in human trafficking,
including one military official for organizing an
international sex trafficking syndicate which was allegedly
responsible for trafficking 130 women and girls from Eastern
Europe to Western Europe and the Middle East between 1999 and

2007. One low-level police officer was arrested for
trafficking women to the UAE and two low-level police
officers were arrested for trafficking women within Russia
for commercial sexual exploitation; these investigations were
ongoing at the end of the reporting period. There was no
updated information on whether the three officials that were
arrested for trafficking-related complicity in 2007 ) as
reported in the 2008 Report ) were prosecuted, convicted, or
punished during the reporting period. There was no updated
information on whether the five military officials
investigated in 2007 for the labor exploitation of military
conscripts under their command were prosecuted, convicted, or
punished for their actions during the reporting period.
Protection
--------------

Russia demonstrated limited progress in improving its
inadequate efforts to protect and assist victims during the
reporting period. Russia lacks national policies and
national programs to provide specific assistance for
trafficking victims. The majority of aid to NGOs and
international organizations providing victim assistance
continued to be funded by international donors. Some local
governments reportedly provided modest financial and in-kind
support to some anti-trafficking NGOs. A local government in
the Russian Far East provided facility space for a
foreign-funded shelter that opened in February 2009; one
victim was assisted during the reporting period. The City of
St. Petersburg continued to fund a number of shelters for
children which provided assistance to some child victims of
trafficking in 2008. Although the government did not track
the number of victims assisted by local governments and NGOs
in 2008, some victims of trafficking were provided with
limited assistance at regional and municipal-run
government-funded domestic violence and homeless shelters.
However, the quality of these shelters varied and they were
often ill-equipped to provide for the specific legal,
medical, and psychological needs of trafficking victims.
Also, foreign and Russian victims found in regions where they
did not reside were sometimes denied access to state-run
general health care and social assistance programs, as local
governments could restrict eligibility to these services to
local residents.

Russia demonstrated inadequate efforts to identify victims;
the majority of assisted victims continued to be identified
by NGOs or international organizations. Some municipalities
across Russia had cooperation agreements between NGOs and
local authorities to refer victims for assistance, and in
2008 an increasing number of the victims assisted nationwide
were referred by government officials; IOM reported that
approximately 48 percent of the 117 trafficking victims
assisted by their foreign-funded shelter in Moscow were
referred by law enforcement and other government authorities.
In October 2008, a local government in Tatarstan signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with a local NGO to improve
victim identification and referral for assistance. In early
April 2009, an NGO-run shelter in Vladivostok also signed a
similar agreement with the local police. Police in some
communities encouraged victims to participate in trafficking
investigations and prosecutions. The Ministry of Interior
introduced anti-trafficking training in its police academies.
No victims of trafficking were assisted by the witness
protection program in 2008. Foreign victims were permitted
to reside in Russia pending the investigation and prosecution
of their trafficker and may petition for asylum to remain in
Russia. There were no reports that victims were punished for
unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being
trafficked.
Prevention
--------------

Russia maintained its modest awareness efforts from the
previous reporting period. Government-owned media in
newspapers, television, and over the Internet reported

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numerous stories and aired documentaries relating to human
trafficking, and often detailed preventative measures for
potential victims to avoid falling prey to traffickers. The
Russian Academy of Sciences conducted a recent survey of 837
potential victims of trafficking; the results indicated that
more than 70 percent of those surveyed were aware of the
dangers of both sex and labor trafficking. The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs continued to maintain a website warning
Russian citizens traveling abroad about the dangers of
trafficking. The government did not take specific steps to
reduce the demand for commercial sex acts. In 2008, one
American man was arrested by authorities for the commercial
sexual exploitation of a child; the defendant subsequently
pleaded guilty and was expected to be sentenced after the
conclusion of the reporting period. The government did not
report trafficking-specific training for its troops deployed
abroad as peacekeepers. The regional government in
Yekaterinburg continued to fund a migrant center that worked
with local Diaspora organizations to shelter and legalize
migrants, making them less vulnerable to labor trafficking in
the region.

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


9. Post may wish to deliver the following points, which offer
technical and legal background on the TIP Report process, to
the host government as a non-paper with the above TIP Report
country narrative:

(begin non-paper)

-- The U.S. Congress, through its passage of the 2000
Trafficking Victims Protection Act, as amended (TVPA),
requires the Secretary of State to submit an annual Report to
Congress. The goal of this Report is to stimulate action and
create partnerships around the world in the fight against
modern-day slavery. The USG approach to combating human
trafficking follows the TVPA and the standards set forth in
the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in
Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime (commonly known as the "Palermo Protocol"). The TVPA
and the Palermo Protocol recognize that this is a crime in
which the victims, labor or services (including in the "sex
industry") are obtained or maintained through force, fraud,
or coercion, whether overt or through psychological
manipulation. While much attention has focused on
international flows, both the TVPA and the Palermo Protocol
focus on the exploitation of the victim, and do not require a
showing that the victim was moved.

-- Recent amendments to the TVPA removed the requirement that
only countries with a "significant number" of trafficking
victims be included in the Report. Beginning with the 2009
TIP Report, countries determined to be a country of origin,
transit, or destination for victims of severe forms of
trafficking are included in the Report and assigned to one of
three tiers. Countries assessed as meeting the "minimum
standards for the elimination of severe forms of trafficking"
set forth in the TVPA are classified as Tier 1. Countries
assessed as not fully complying with the minimum standards,
but making significant efforts to meet those minimum
standards are classified as Tier 2. Countries assessed as
neither complying with the minimum standards nor making
significant efforts to do so are classified as Tier 3.

-- The TVPA also requires the Secretary of State to provide a
"Special Watch List" to Congress later in the year.
Anti-trafficking efforts of the countries on this list are to
be evaluated again in an Interim Assessment that the
Secretary of State must provide to Congress by February 1 of
each year. Countries are included on the "Special Watch
List" if they move up in "tier" rankings in the annual TIP
Report -- from 3 to 2 or from 2 to 1 -- or if they have been
placed on the Tier 2 Watch List.

-- Tier 2 Watch List consists of Tier 2 countries determined:
(1) not to have made "increasing efforts" to combat human
trafficking over the past year; (2) to be making significant
efforts based on commitments of anti-trafficking reforms over
the next year, or (3) to have a very significant number of
trafficking victims or a significantly increasing victim
population. As indicated in reftel B, the TVPRA of 2008
contains a provision requiring that a country that has been
included on Tier 2 Watch List for two consecutive years after
the date of enactment of the TVPRA of 2008 be ranked as Tier

3. Thus, any automatic downgrade to Tier 3 pursuant to this
provision would take place, at the earliest, in the 2011 TIP
Report (i.e., a country would have to be ranked Tier 2 Watch
List in the 2009 and 2010 Reports before being subject to

STATE 00060626 005 OF 006


Tier 3 in the 2011 Report). The new law allows for a waiver
of this provision for up to two additional years upon a
determination by the President that the country has developed
and devoted sufficient resources to a written plan to make
significant efforts to bring itself into compliance with the
minimum standards.

-- Countries classified as Tier 3 may be subject to statutory
restrictions for the subsequent fiscal year on
non-humanitarian and non-trade-related foreign assistance
and, in some circumstances, withholding of funding for
participation by government officials or employees in
educational and cultural exchange programs. In addition,
the President could instruct the U.S. executive directors to
international financial institutions to oppose loans or other
utilization of funds (other than for humanitarian,
trade-related or certain types of development assistance)
with respect to countries on Tier 3. Countries classified as
Tier 3 that take strong action within 90 days of the Report's
release to show significant efforts against trafficking in
persons, and thereby warrant a reassessment of their Tier
classification, would avoid such sanctions. Guidelines for
such actions are in the DOS-crafted action plans to be shared
by Posts with host governments.

-- The 2009 TIP Report, issuing as it does in the midst of
the global financial crisis, highlights high levels of
trafficking for forced labor in many parts of the world and
systemic contributing factors to this phenomenon: fraudulent
recruitment practices and excessive recruiting fees in
workers' home countries; the lack of adequate labor
protections in both sending and receiving countries; and the
flawed design of some destination countries' "sponsorship
systems" that do not give foreign workers adequate legal
recourse when faced with conditions of forced labor. As the
May 2009 ILO Global Report on Forced Labor concluded, forced
labor victims suffer approximately $20 billion in losses, and
traffickers' profits are estimated at $31 billion. The
current global financial crisis threatens to increase the
number of victims of forced labor and increase the associated
"cost of coercion."

-- The text of the TVPA and amendments can be found on
website www.state.gov/g/tip.

-- On June 16, 2009, the Secretary of State will release the
ninth annual TIP Report in a public event at the State
Department. We are providing you an advance copy of your
country's narrative in that report. Please keep this
information embargoed until 10:00 am Washington DC time June

16. The State Department will also hold a general briefing
for officials of foreign embassies in Washington DC on June
17 at 3:30 pm EDT.

(end non-paper)


10. Posts should make sure that the relevant country
narrative is readily available on or though the Mission's web
page in English and appropriate local language(s) as soon as
possible after the TIP Report is released. Funding for
translation costs will be handled as it was for the Human
Rights Report. Posts needing financial assistance for
translation costs should contact their regional bureau's EX
office.


11. The following is press guidance provided for Post to use
with local media.

Q1: Why was Russia given a ranking of Tier 2 Watch List?

A: Russia is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a sixth
consecutive year because the government decreased the number
of reported trafficking investigations, prosecutions, and
convictions; did not vigorously prosecute, convict, and
punish government officials; made no significant efforts to
improve efforts to identify and assist victims of
trafficking; and did not make adequate efforts to address
labor trafficking.

The Government of the Russian Federation sustained its
investigation efforts and maintained its modest awareness
efforts from the previous reporting period. In 2008,
authorities reportedly investigated three high-level
officials for possible involvement in human trafficking,
including one military official for organizing an
international sex trafficking syndicate which was allegedly
responsible for trafficking 130 woman and girls from Eastern
Europe to Western Europe and the Middle East between 1999 and

2007.


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Q2: What are some important observations made by the 2009
Report?

A: Victim identification and assistance remained inadequate
and varied in quality and availability, despite efforts by
some regional and local authorities. The federal government
did not dedicate funding to anti-trafficking activities or
trafficking victim assistance during the reporting period;
and, despite limited funding by some local governments, the
majority of shelter and direct trafficking assistance
continued to be provided by foreign-funded international
organizations and NGOs.

Q3: What can Russia do to improve its fight against
trafficking in persons in the coming year?

A: To improve its anti-trafficking performance, the Russian
government could: Develop and implement a comprehensive
national strategy that addresses all forms of trafficking and
provides comprehensive victim assistance throughout Russia;
provide funding from federal, regional, and/or municipal
budgets to implement this national strategy; allocate funding
to anti-trafficking NGOs that provide victim assistance and
rehabilitative care; increase the number of victims
identified and assisted; designate trafficking-specific
responsibilities to relevant government ministries on the
national and regional levels; establish an official federal
coordinating body with the authority to implement the
national strategy; increase the number of investigations,
prosecutions, and convictions for trafficking offenses,
particularly government officials complicit in trafficking;
ensure convicted traffickers and convicted complicit
officials are sentenced to some time in prison; create a
central repository for investigation, prosecution,
conviction, and sentencing data for trafficking cases;
continue efforts to raise public awareness of both sex and
labor trafficking; increase efforts to investigate,
prosecute, convict, and punish labor trafficking offenses;
and continue to take steps to prevent the use of forced labor
in construction projects for the 2014 winter Olympics.


12. The Department appreciates posts' assistance with the
preceding action requests.
CLINTON