VZCZCXRO6486
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #4952/01 2840812
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 110812Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4537
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 4606
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 2468
RUEHYG/AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 2757

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 004952 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM SOCI RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA'S DISCRIMINATING APPROACH TO PUBLIC RALLIES 
 
REF: MOSCOW 04906 
 
MOSCOW 00004952  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (SBU) Separate events over the weekend of October 7 reveal 
the limits to public expression and assembly in Russia. While 
a 10,000-person celebratory rally in commemoration of Putin's 
birthday was facilitated, and a 500  gathering marking the 
one-year anniversary of Politkovskaya's murder was carefully 
circumscribed but tolerated by the Moscow authorities, 
regional officials moved in quickly to cancel a separate 
event honoring Politkovskaya in Nizhniy Novgorod -- 
temporarily detaining five foreign NGO representatives in the 
process. Government human rights officials agree that there 
is no consistency in the application of the law on public 
assembly, with Human Rights Ombudsman Lukin submitting a 
report to the Duma critical of Russian practices. We continue 
to express our concern over the restrictions on public 
assembly to senior GOR and human rights officials. End 
Summary. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Anniversary of Politkovskaya Murder 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) October 7 was the one-year anniversary of the murder 
of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. A rally to 
mark the anniversary was organized by the Russian People's 
Democratic Party, a political movement lead by former Prime 
Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, and several NGOs. The event in 
central Moscow attracted hundreds of people (variously 
estimated at 200-700) on a rainy, chilly afternoon. Kasyanov 
was joined on stage at the event by Novaya Gazeta Editor 
Dmitriy Muratov and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, leader of the Moscow 
Helsinki Group. All three used the opportunity to criticize 
authorities for their failure to solve the case. (See reftel 
for status report on investigation.) Following the rally, a 
smaller group of participants walked to Politkovskaya's 
apartment where they laid flowers. Patrolling the rally were 
hundreds of young army soldiers, joined by special forces and 
police. Reinforcements stood in formation, while others 
waited on buses parked near by. News media estimated the 
total deployment at 800-2,500. (Note: A much lower number 
than at past rallies.) 
 
¶3. (U) Authorities had given approval for a rally of 500 
participants to take place on Sunday. Permission was not 
given for the walk to Politkovskaya's apartment. Despite the 
unauthorized walk to the apartment, events proceeded without 
incident. 
 
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Putin's Birthday 
---------------- 
 
¶4. (U) Across the city another rally in honor of the 55th 
birthday of President Putin was held simultaneously. 
Organized by the pro-Kremlin youth movement "Nashi," it 
included a march along the Moscow River near the Kremlin by 
an estimated 10,000 activists carrying banners and flags. 
According to the media, Nashi also placed more than 1,000 
Russian flags throughout Moscow including on top of the 
Moscow State University building and the Hotel Ukraine, among 
the tallest buildings in the city.  The march was followed by 
a presentation of gifts to the President at the Kremlin, the 
first such birthday event to take place at the Kremlin during 
Putin's two terms. The President invited the permanent 
members of the Russian Security Council and the leadership of 
the armed forces to the Kremlin for the occasion. He used the 
opportunity to speak about the need to bolster the military. 
 
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Problems in Nizhniy Novgorod 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) In Nizhniy Novgorod, an international conference that 
was to take place in honor of Politkovskaya did not go 
forward when the offices of the Fund to Promote Tolerance 
(the former Russian-Chechen Friendship Society), which 
organized the conference, were raided by police and their 
computers seized. Five foreign (from Spain, Germany and Great 
Britain) human rights activists were detained, reportedly 
because they had not registered with local authorities, as 
required by law. They were later fined and released. 
Stanislav Dmitrievskiy and Oksana Chelysheva of the Fund to 
Promote Tolerance were questioned. Participants found their 
 
MOSCOW 00004952  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
hotel room reservations had been canceled and the organizers 
were denied space to hold a press conference. Earlier, a 
Russian bank that was holding money to pay for the conference 
refused to transfer the money to the organizers. 
 
-------------------------------- 
The Right of Freedom of Assembly 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) In response to concerns over Russia's adherence to the 
constitutional right to hold peaceful assemblies, meetings, 
demonstrations, processions and picketing, Ombudsman Vladimir 
Lukin recently submitted an analysis of the implementation of 
the law "On Assemblies, Meetings, Demonstrations, Processions 
and Picketing," to the State Duma. Lukin found that the law, 
although a "step in the right direction," is not easy to 
implement and authorities have been able to use technical 
reasons to deny permission for holding public events. Lukin 
suggested that in the future, civil society and government 
should come to consensus on the need for legally binding and 
uniform provisions for imposing a ban on public actions. By 
doing so, he argued that authorities could ban a public 
action instead of bending the law to do so "as routinely 
happens today." On the other hand, by setting uniform 
provisions, organizers of public assemblies could be better 
equipped legally to challenge a ban in court. Lukin's bottom 
line is that "organizers of peaceful public assemblies have 
to display readiness for truly constructive cooperation with 
the authorities" and "it is equally essential that regulatory 
authorities do not abuse the notification procedure as an 
instrument of imposing a ban on public assemblies." 
 
¶7. (SBU) William Smirnov, executive secretary of the Human 
Rights Council of the President of the Russian Federation 
told us there is no consistency in the application of the law 
on peaceful assembly. According to him, the law is fine. The 
bigger problem today is the way in which regional and local 
authorities prevent public events from occurring in the first 
place by employing "soft methods," such as making venues 
unavailable or keeping people from arriving in time for an 
event. While these tactics have replaced overt use of force 
in disrupting public gatherings, as was witnessed for example 
in St. Petersburg during the 2006 G8 summit and at marches 
organized by Other Russia, the end result is the same. 
According to Smirnov the over-reaction of authorities to the 
threat of public gatherings has harmed Russia's reputation. 
There needs to be better understanding of the law and better 
training of police, he said. 
 
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Comment 
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¶8. (SBU) As the October 7 celebration of Putin's birthday and 
the Nizhniy Novgorod crackdown further indicate, the right of 
public expression and assembly depends upon the popularity of 
one's views in ruling circles. It still remains the case that 
regional authorities "over fulfill the plan" in attempting to 
meet the expectations of the Kremlin, and the relative 
"hands-off" approach to the Moscow Politkovskaya gathering 
did not filter out to the provinces. We will continue to 
reinforce our concerns on the constraints to public 
expression to the GOR and government human rights officials. 
Burns