VZCZCXRO7241
OO RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #1862 1831301
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 011301Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8817
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001862 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREF PTER KDEM KJUS SOCI RS
SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WARNS GOR ON VIOLENCE IN 
INGUSHETIYA 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  In a June 25 press conference in Moscow, 
Human Rights Watch (HRW) warned that if the Russian 
government continues to use counterinsurgency techniques in 
Ingushetiya and does not address previous human rights 
violations, the situation there could deteriorate to the same 
level that plagued Chechnya during the two Chechen wars waged 
by the GOR.  Ingushetiya's Human Rights Ombudsman 
Kerim-Sultan Kokurkhayev attended the briefing and vehemently 
denied that the situation in Ingushetiya was as bad as HRW 
claimed in its report.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) In a press conference held on June 25, HRW's Moscow 
branch released its latest report on the situation in 
Ingushetiya titled "As if they Fell from the Sky."  Rachel 
Denber, the New York-based Deputy Director of HRW's European 
and Central Asian Division, joined Tanya Lokshina from HRW's 
Moscow office and Aleksandr Cherkasov of the Moscow-based 
Human Rights organization Memorial to present the report.  It 
details the worsening situation, characterized by a rising 
level of violence, abductions and civilian deaths in 
Ingushetiya in 2007 and early 2008.  The report was based on 
evidence acquired through a series of interviews conducted by 
HRW staff in December 2007.  Cherkasov reported 29 abductions 
of civilians in 2007, and approximately 40 persons killed by 
government security officials.  Denber, who peppered her 
presentation with comparisons to human rights abuses by 
coalition forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, cautioned that 
Russia's counter-terrorism efforts are unnecessarily 
worsening the human rights situation in Ingushetiya. 
Lokshina described the situation there as "similar to 
Chechnya, if on a smaller scale," and one in which young 
people are the most affected.  She added that the actions of 
the government's security forces are undermining popular 
support for the government. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) HRW called for reformed counter-terrorism 
legislation to guarantee that detainees are either promptly 
charged with an offense or released.  HRW also urged the 
government to improve access for journalists and 
international monitors. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The press conference ended with a fiery 
intervention by Ingushetiya Ombudsman Kerim-Sultan 
Kokurkhayev.  Indignant for not having received an official 
invitation to the event, Kokurkhayev denounced HRW's 
continued reliance on 2007 figures, contending that the 
situation had improved and that in 2008 there had been no 
abductions.  Kokurkhayev dismissed the report as "American 
propaganda" and asserted that Ingushetiya was in fact "no 
worse off than any of its neighbors."  He also pointed out 
that federal, not local, forces had carried out most, if not 
all, of the actions detailed in the report and that residents 
of Ingushetiya were more likely to be abused in temporary 
detention centers in North Ossetiya to which they were often 
transported. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) The events of the press conference highlight the 
explosive nature of events of Ingushetiya and elsewhere in 
the North Caucasus.  HRW contended that the situation is 
getting worse, while Ingush authorities asserted it is 
better.  The truth is somewhere in between.  Kokurkhayev was 
correct that the overwhelming majority of the report is based 
on events from 2007; however within the document itself 
evidence suggests that the situation is not as stable as he 
alleges.  According to statistics from Ingushetiya Interior 
Minister Musa Medov cited in the report, there were 28 
attacks against members of law enforcement from January to 
March 2008.  The rate of attacks in spring 2008 was similar 
to that of fall 2007, with several occurring per week.  The 
official website of the government of Ingushetiya 
corroborated Kokurkhayev's assertion that there have been no 
abductions in Ingushetiya in 2008.  Even the opposition there 
asserted that the kidnappings and abductions stopped after a 
string of protests organized by family members at the end of 
¶2007.  While there still is still a high level of violence, 
as Lokshina pointed out, it is clearly not of the scale seen 
during the two Chechen wars. 
RUSSELL