VZCZCXRO3772
OO RUEHAST
DE RUEHSK #0608/01 1601333
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091333Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY MINSK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4529
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE IMMEDIATE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MINSK 000608 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON PHUM BO
SUBJECT: REGIONAL OUTREACH TO GOMEL REGION HIGH, SUPERVISED 
BUT HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL 
 
 
MINSK 00000608  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: On June 1-2, Ambassador traveled to the 
regional capital city Gomel and surrounding villages to 
conduct public outreach.  Opposition and civil society 
representatives described the repressive conditions in which 
they exist, but the civil society representatives also 
criticized the democratic coalition for not involving them 
more in recent elections. Authorities arranged meetings with 
representatives of Gomel's free economic zone and tours of 
the Gomel palace and war museum.  Ambassador and Emboffs 
visited a private farm in Dobrush and paid a visit to a Vetka 
school where the Embassy donated computers.  English teachers 
and students at the Gomel regional library thanked the 
Embassy for English-language materials donated to the 
American Corners and asked about the FLEX program and summer 
language courses in the U.S.  Despite close supervision by 
local activities, Embassy outreach to the Belarusian people 
was not hindered.  End Summary. 
 
Authorities Welcome Ambassador 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) On June 1, police met Ambassador, Protocol 
Assistant, and Poloff 60 kilometers outside of Gomel and, 
"for security," escorted the Embassy vehicle to the Oblast' 
Executive Committee (Oblispolkom) in downtown Gomel to meet 
the head of the Oblast' Council of Ministers Valery Selitsky, 
deputy head of the ideology department Yevgeny Mitkevich, 
Gomel State University officials and Belarusian Republican 
Youth Union (BRCM) representatives, and the state media. 
Selitsky, who did most of the talking, bragged about Gomel's 
GDP per capita surpassing Minsk's and the city's 10 percent 
increase in overall industrial output last year.  He admitted 
the agriculture sector lagged behind in development, but was 
improving and produced much of Belarus' meat and milk, 
including for export to Russia and Ukraine. (Note: The Gomel 
region is the most radioactive region in Belarus.)  According 
to Selitsky, Gomel was on the right path, but faced a 
dwindling population and needed more investment. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Siletsky claimed Gomel authorities had a dialogue 
with the local opposition, who were able to meet supporters 
without harassment. However, he proceeded to chastise 
opposition activists, calling them "political businessmen" 
who made a good living off foreign funding.  He further 
stated that 90 percent of the region's electorate voted for 
Lukashenko on Election Day because they had jobs, medical 
care, housing and, most importantly, lived in a stable 
country without war. According to Siletsky, people were more 
concerned with economics than politics. 
 
Free Economic Zone 
------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) Mitkevich and the local state media accompanied 
Ambassador and Emboffs to Gomel's Free Economic Zone (FEZ) 
"Raton," which comprises 35 industries totaling USD 120 
million in investment-60 million of which was foreign capital 
from 19 countries, mainly Germany, Switzerland, 
Liechtenstein, and Russia.  Ninety percent of the FEZ' output 
is exported, despite large domestic demand, and the companies 
reinvest their profits in the Gomel region rather than 
sending it abroad.  Director of the FEZ Aleksandr Skvortsov 
told Ambassador 31 people worked for his organization, which 
has in the last five years exceeded its assigned goals. 
According to Skvortsov, the FEZ and local authorities had 
eliminated much red tape for the companies, including 
problems with the registration process.  He doubted a rise in 
energy prices would have an affecton production, although 
transportation costs accunted for much of companies' 
expenditures.  Skvotsov claimed the government did not 
interfere wit companies' activities. 
 
Cultural Stops 
------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Ambassador visited the Gomel regonal library to 
donate English language material to the American Corners 
located there.  Ambassaor spoke to a group of approximately 
35 English lnguage students and teachers (Note: We 
understan the Gomel governor rejected our request for theAmbassador to speak to students at the local univesity.  The 
university rector privately apologize for this.)  The 
teachers thanked the Embassy forproviding teaching material 
that presented authetic English they otherwise had no access 
to.  One teacher showed interest n possible summer programs 
in the U.S. for Belarusian English teachers an a FLEX 
alumnus thanked the Embassy for giving her the chance to 
study in the U.S. and asked Ambassador to ensure more 
students had the same opportunity.  Ambassador noted the U.S. 
 
MINSK 00000608  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
would do all it can to keep exchanges-but the GOB has not 
been helpful on this score. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Gomel authorities arranged a tour of the new "Museum 
of War Glory," which contains displays of weapons from 
ancient Belarus, relics of WWI and WWII, and modern weapons 
and technology.  At one point in the tour, the guide showed 
Ambassador a map of the Stalin Line and explained how during 
operation Barbarosa, this "line of defense" halted the Nazi 
invasion and forced the Germans to proceed north and south 
rather than directly east. (Note: In 2005, Lukashenko spent a 
fortune renovating the defense line, which was all but out of 
commission by the time WWII began.  He created a fictitious 
history around its "heroic defense" of the Soviet Union 
during the Nazi invasion (reftel).) The director 
embarrassingly agreed when Ambassador related what he 
understood to be the uselessness of the "Stalin Line." 
 
What Dialogue With Opposition Parties? 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Without local supervision, Ambassador met with the 
regional head of opposition presidential candidate Aleksandr 
Milinkevich's campaign team, Vladimir Katsora, and two 
colleagues.  Katsora noted problems working with other local 
parties and criticized efforts to hold another Congress of 
Democratic Forces, claiming that such discussions were 
wasting precious time.  He laughed when Ambassador relayed 
Selitsky's statement that authorities did not harass the 
opposition.  Katsora has been arrested twice this year, the 
last time for participating in an unsanctioned rally that had 
not yet taken place.  Youth activists were constantly being 
arrested and others were losing their jobs.  Katsora said his 
mission was to help those repressed, preserve the opposition, 
and mobilize the people.  However, this would be difficult 
with their lack of resources and the lack of optimism among 
the population.  Local TV positioned outside the meeting 
place queried Ambassador why he was there.  Ambassador noted 
he wanted to h 
ear the views of Belarusian citizens and encouraged the media 
to cover these views as well.  Ambassador stressed the U.S. 
supports peaceful democratic means for societies to work out 
their rightful and natural political differences. 
 
NGOs 
---- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Ambassador and Poloff had supper with civil society 
activists, who too complained about lack of dialogue with 
local authorities.  Their largest criticism, however, was 
directed at Western NGO financers for supporting "show" NGOs 
that spend most of their time traveling to foreign 
conferences.  Although gaining international recognition was 
fine, more attention and funding needed to be spent on 
building and supporting grassroots networks that were more 
accessible to the people.  These activists, who represented 
women's rights, justice, and health organizations complained 
that while they had successfully collected signatures for the 
last presidential campaign, the democratic coalition did not 
engage them in further election activities, although they 
were prepared to do more for the campaign. 
 
Time On The Farm 
---------------- 
 
¶9. (U) On June 2, Ambassador and Emboffs visited a private 
farm in Dobrush, just outside of Gomel, where farm owner 
Saveliy Balabolov and his family gave a tour of their 
homestead.  Saveliy, looking uncomfortable in an old suit 
that he probably rarely wore, showed off his tractors and 
combines, explaining that new GOB subsidies and loan programs 
made it easier to purchase needed equipment.  Though not as 
technologically advanced or as large as the typical farm in 
the U.S., Saveliy seemed to be running an efficient 
enterprise that resembled much of what would be seen in the 
American heartland.  At first Saveliy seemed nervous about 
having such company, which included Mitkevich and 
journalists, but relaxed after Ambassador showed interest in 
seeing his swine operation.  Inside the swine barn, 
Saveliy-regardless of his suit-climbed into the pen and 
slapped a sow out of its slumber to show Ambassador her size. 
 He proceeded to show his grain mill and started cursing 
about the price of new equipment that worked ju 
st as well as the antiquated equipment he used. 
 
A Trip To Vetka 
--------------- 
 
¶10. (U) The next stop was a small village called Vetka, known 
 
MINSK 00000608  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
for its school of historic  "old Belarusian" iconography, its 
traditional embroidered cloth called "rushniki," and the high 
radioactive fallout it received after the Chernobyl tragedy. 
Ambassador and Emboffs met the director of grammar school No. 
2 Svetlana Biran, other school administrators, and several 
students.  Biran appreciated the two computers the Embassy 
donated and hosted Ambassador and Emboffs to tea and student 
presentations.  Two students sang modern Russian pop songs 
and a dozen younger students spoke, in English, about the 
geography and history of the U.S.  When away from Mitkevich's 
supervision, Biran told Ambassador about Vetka's poor 
economic standing and how the good doctors, teachers, and 
educated elite had moved away.  Many students suffered from 
alcoholic parents and/or abuse and she ridiculed the Soviet 
model of education had more minuses than pluses. 
Interestingly, Biran had just returned from a trip to Germany 
where she ha 
d met with local teachers-an exchange that had no government 
involvement and developed after meeting some German teachers 
who had came to Belarus to provide humanitarian aid. 
 
A Village Tragedy 
----------------- 
 
¶11. (U) On the way back to Minsk, Ambassador visited the site 
of several country estates of the former local nobility 
located in villages near Gomel.  Mitkevich insisted in 
accompanying the Ambassador on these visits along with a 
police escort and other local officials.  In the village 
Chervoni Bereg (Red Beach), the director of the local 
agricultural institute showed Ambassador the site of a 
monument being built in memory of the children killed by 
Nazis in WWII.  According to the director, Germans converted 
the local mansion into a hospital for their wounded. 
However, they were short of blood, and therefore, gathered 
2,000 area children between the ages of 6 and 14 years, 
drained them of blood, and threw their bodies in a pit near 
the mansion.  The mayor said this atrocity was common during 
WWII, but Chervoni Bereg was the most infamous. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) During the visit to Vetka, Mitkevich took 
Ambassador aside and complained about Ambassador "violating" 
local hospitality by having meetings with people not 
organized by the host government.  He claimed he would have 
been happy to organize meetings with the opposition as well 
as with "other political parties."  Ambassador thanked 
Mitkevich for his offer of "hospitality," but stressed that a 
guest also has a right to see what he would like in a 
district freely.  Also, Ambassador noted that if Mitkevich 
wanted to organize a "roundtable" with local political 
figures, he could have suggested it himself before the trip. 
Furthermore, the Embassy had made no secret of the visit to 
opposition party premises.  Mitkevich backed off. 
Interestingly, Ambassador's visits to rural historical sites 
seemed a revelation to Mitkevich and even the police 
escort-who left their vehicles to see the ruins of churches 
and estates they never knew existed in their own backyard. 
Privately they thanked Ambassador for showing 
them a part of their own country and history previously 
unknown to them.  Lesson: outreach works! 
Krol