VZCZCXRO6531
PP RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #1128 0741519
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151519Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8291
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 3882
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 1988
RUEHYG/AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 2289

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001128 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV KDEM PINR RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN REACTION TO THE 2006 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The MFA spokesman and leading Duma members 
criticized the 2006 Human Rights Report as biased, 
hypocritical, and needlessly confrontational.  However, Ella 
Pamfilova, Chairwoman of the President's Human Rights 
Council, surprised observers by telling the media she agreed 
with the majority of the findings -- and thanked the 
Department for the report.  End summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Accusations of Hypocrisy and Double Standards 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin on March 9 
alleged the report contained deliberate errors, relied upon 
biased sources, and used outdated information.  He also 
slammed the report as politically motivated and needlessly 
confrontational in tone.  Kamynin said the United States was 
hypocritical because "the United States itself, under various 
pretexts, limits democratic freedoms, interferes with the 
personal life of its citizens, engages in de facto censorship 
of the media, and sends minors to the electric chair." 
 
¶3. (U) Duma International Affairs Committee Chairman 
Konstantin Kosachev told the press March 8 that while he 
agreed with some points (notably, corruption in the security 
organs), the overall report was flawed.  Kosachev and 
Committee Deputy Chairman Vasiliy Likachev accused the U.S. 
of double standards, citing Guantanamo prisoners, secret CIA 
prisons in Europe, and Iraq. 
 
¶4. (U) On March 13, Nataliya Narosnika, the head of the Duma 
Commission to Investigate the Observance of Human Rights in 
Foreign Countries, accused the U.S. of hypocrisy. "This 
report causes great indignation around the world, because the 
United States itself does not have clean hands.  In the 
United States, there are miscarriages of justice, beatings in 
prison, discrimination against women, and violations of the 
freedom of speech."  She also accused the United States of 
ignoring similar conditions in friendly countries. 
 
--------------------------------------- 
Acknowledgment of Human Rights Problems 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Narosnika then moved beyond criticism of the United 
States to Russia's human rights problems.  "We do not need to 
respond to every criticism, but we do have a stake in looking 
at our problems and seeing our sins and imperfections 
removed."  Without bowing to Western demands, she said, 
Russia can still use the Western model "at a theoretical 
level" to examine Russia's conditions and shortcomings and 
correct those things that it is possible to correct. 
Narosnika implied that most of Russia's human rights problems 
spring from "a social-cultural context and our lack of 
political habits and traditions." 
 
¶6. (U) Ella Pamfilova, the Chairwoman of the President's 
Council on Human Rights, told the media that "without a 
doubt, we have serious problems.  I am in agreement with the 
majority of the findings in the report.  Overall, I thank 
Condolezza Rice's department for its steadfast attention to 
the situation in our country. The most important thing right 
now is to learn to avert human rights violations." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Alexander Petrov, Deputy Director of Human Rights 
Watch in Russia, told us that he was surprised and encouraged 
by Pamfilova's statement.  He had expected that, as usual, 
the government would simply criticize and dismiss the report. 
 
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Comment 
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¶8. (SBU) We expected a generally negative official reaction 
-- the GOR traditionally bristles when the report is 
published.  For that reason, Ella Pamfilova's positive public 
assessment was a welcome surprise. 
BURNS