VZCZCXRO4951
RR RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #2489/01 2331537
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 201537Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9600
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 2918
RUEHYG/AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 3279
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 5034

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 002489 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR SOCI ECON RS
SUBJECT: Public Chamber Discusses Potential War Crimes in South 
Ossetia 
 
MOSCOW 00002489  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU)   Russia's public chamber -- a largely Kremlin-appointed 
consultative body of civil society organizations -- formed two 
committees to address questions about the conflict in South Ossetia, 
both of which met on August 20 to discuss their two-day exploratory 
trip to Vladikavkaz and Tskhinvali on August 14 and 15.  While many 
of the commentators hewed to the official line about "genocide" and 
condemned Western reactions and coverage of events, some of the more 
thoughtful members raised questions about press freedom (seen has 
hindering Moscow's ability to get its side of the story out) and the 
dangers of over-dramatizing the events.  The session marked perhaps 
the first public discourse, not just on the conflict, but on the 
Russian government's policy and approach.  End Summary. 
 
A Familiar Litany 
----------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The meeting kicked off with a video compiled by the 
committee members who traveled to South Ossetia.  Accompanied by 
suitably somber music, the video showed footage of refugee camps in 
North Ossetia (predominantly female and children) and of wounded 
victims (primarily young males).  Committee Chair Olga Kostina, 
founder of the victims' right organization "Resistance," gave 
commentary during the film and then opened the session with a 
general overview of the trip to Tskhinvali, saying that things had 
been grim when they arrived on 14 August, but trucks with relief 
materials arrived on the 15th.  She noted that the materials from 
the investigative commission would be posted as early as August 25 
on the Public Chamber web site. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Aleksandr Brod, the head of Moscow Bureau for Human Rights 
gave the main report on alleged war crimes in South Ossetia, saying 
that the committee had collected a hundred interviews with witnesses 
that described Georgian forces as using military force against 
civilian targets.  He reported that the committee had handed their 
findings, including photographs and video materials, to the Russian 
Prosecutor's office.  He also made reference to possible Russian war 
crimes against Georgian citizens, but did not make any elaborations. 
 Brod also alleged that Georgian forces had kidnapped dozens of 
South Ossetians, who had not returned to their families.  He further 
promised that the Public Chamber committee planned to publish a book 
about their findings. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Other speakers at the table - including the head of the 
"Politics" fund Vyacheslav Nikonov - blasted Western media for a 
"disinformation" campaign, which he alleged sought to hide Georgian 
war crimes and to whitewash Russian criticism of President 
Saakashvilli's actions.  He claimed that had Russian soldiers not 
gotten involved in the crisis, then the "genocide" of South 
Ossetians would never have come to light.  He dismissed statements 
by Human Rights Watch Tanya Lokshina that reported that the 
Tskhinvali hospital had reports of no more than 40-some deaths, and 
reasserted that a thousand, maybe more had perished. 
 
Other Voices Heard as Well 
-------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Other members of the committee, however, took a more 
objective approach and raised questions about the Kremlin's conduct 
of the war.  Maksim Shevchenko, a journalist on Russia's Channel One 
government television, warned against overdramatizing the situation, 
noting that he had witnessed genocide in the Balkans in the 1980s 
and that the situation in South Ossetia did not reach those 
proportions.  Instead, he posited a more "measured" argument that 
Georgian forces, by firing on innocent civilians without cause, had 
committed war crimes and could thus be held liable.  He further 
underscored, however, that South Ossetia and Abkhazia were not a 
part of the Russian Federation and thus not liable to Moscow's legal 
mechanisms.  Lastly, he noted the risks of referring to the conflict 
in South Ossetia in terms of inter-nationality conflict, 
particularly given Russia's past transgressions against North 
Caucasus nationalities.  Finally, in commenting about the perception 
that Russia appeared to have lost the "information war," Shevchenko 
argued for broader press freedom and greater access to information 
would have helped Moscow to make its case -- a comment that drew 
scattered applause from the assembled journalists. 
 
¶6. (SBU)   Bishop of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians, 
Sergey Ryakhovskiy, similarly criticized Moscow's policies as 
counter-productive.  He lamented that no international aid 
organizations, including Protestant church organizations in the 
U.S., had been invited to play a role in providing aid.  Instead, 
all support efforts flowed through the government's Emergency 
Ministry, without any recourse for independent action.  He noted 
that his co-religionists in the U.S. and other countries had no 
 
MOSCOW 00002489  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
reason to believe Russian claims about genocide, without being 
allowed to make their own observations about the conditions there. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Alla Gerber, the President of the Russian Holocaust Fund, 
complained about the use of the term "genocide," noting that it took 
international recognition and clear evidence of a desire for 
eradication - like that which befell Europe's Jewish population 
under Hitler.  (Indeed, perhaps because of her position on genocide, 
Gerber was not informed of the departure time for the plane to 
Vladikavkaz and South Ossetia and thus was not a member of the 
delegation to the region.)  Gerber also raised concern about the use 
of conscript troops in Russia's military force in Georgia, since 
conscripts by Russian law are not to be employed in peacetime to 
combat operations. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Despite disagreements on the terminology for what happened 
in South Ossetia and debate about the Russian government's failure 
to get its message across, there was general agreement that war 
crimes of some sort had taken place in Tskhinvali and warranted 
investigation, even from the more pro-Western members of the Public 
Chamber committee.  As their findings become public knowledge, with 
an expected web site showing testimony and material evidence, we can 
expect more public retrospection on the events and, most likely, a 
strong push by the Public Chamber and the Russian government to 
appeal to international organizations as a means to draw world 
attention to the alleged war crimes.