VZCZCXRO9409
PP RUEHIK RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #3086/01 2941103
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 201103Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0429
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MOSCOW 003086 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OFDP PGOV SOCI RS
SUBJECT: SEXISM, LOW PAY, AND REAL ESTATE: RUSSIAN 
DIPLOMATS ON WORKING AT THE MFA 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Like Russia itself, the MFA is still 
attempting to come to terms with the vast societal changes 
that came with the end of the Soviet era.  The Russian 
diplomatic corps of 4,500 is younger and includes more women 
than previously, but sexism remains very much in the open. 
The high number of applicants to the MFA is taken as a sign 
that being a diplomat remains prestigious despite the 
prospect of earning larger salaries elsewhere, but many see 
the Ministry as a way to a lucrative private sector job.  The 
MFA takes pride in maintaining its emphasis on language 
ability, but an antiquated assignments process leaves some 
individuals with limited career options.  Russian diplomats 
may face some of the same challenges as Americans, with 
concerns about postings, salaries, and the high cost of 
returning to the capital, but life within the MFA is 
qualitatively different than in the Department.  Using 
largely anecdotal information gleaned from working-level 
contacts, we have attempted to illustrate various aspects of 
the life of Russian diplomats.  End summary. 
 
Today's Russian Diplomatic Corps 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) MFA Director of Personnel Vladimir Morozov said in a 
recent interview that the Ministry consists of approximately 
4,500 diplomats and 5,000 people in administrative and 
technical positions.  Of these 9,500 MFA employees, about 
3,000 are in Moscow and 6,500 overseas.  The largest missions 
are in Washington, with 230 staff, and New York, with 180. 
The smallest are consulates in the Aland Islands in Finland, 
with one diplomat, and the Svalbard archipelago off the 
northern coast of Norway, with two diplomats. 
 
¶3. (U) Women currently account for approximately 15 percent 
of Russian diplomats and one-third of all new applicants to 
join the MFA.  Morozov attributed the increasing number of 
women to societal changes that have impacted a Ministry 
traditionally the "domain of the stronger sex."  He justified 
this legacy by explaining that men were better equipped to 
handle long-term absences from home, harsh climates, and the 
"complex political and military situations" in which Russian 
diplomats often found themselves. 
 
¶4. (U) According to Morozov, approximately a quarter of 
Russian diplomats are under 30.  The MFA's ability to attract 
young people despite the heretofore strong Russian economy 
demonstrated that being a diplomat remained a prestigious 
occupation.  The number of applicants has increased steadily 
over the last several years, allowing the Ministry to be more 
selective in its hiring. 
 
¶5. (U) First DFM Denisov said in a separate interview that 
the large number of young diplomats showed that the MFA had 
rebounded from the disastrous 1990s, when a poor fiscal 
situation forced the Ministry to slash staffing levels, while 
low salaries led many diplomats to take jobs elsewhere. 
Despite the current increase in hiring, the MFA still felt 
the effects of its lean years, which had created a shortage 
of mid-level officers.  Denisov commented that as a result, 
Russian diplomacy continued to "rest on the shoulders" of 
professionals in their fifties. 
 
Male, Pale and Yale 
------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) While the U.S. Foreign Service may have become a 
more diverse institution, the Russian MFA remains a bastion 
of Slavic males who went to Moscow's top schools.  Women seen 
within the building are typically secretaries or freshly 
minted attaches who have yet to go overseas.  The highest 
ranked female diplomat we have met was Lyudmila Vorobieva, 
Deputy Director of the Department of ASEAN and Asia-Pacific 
Affairs, equivalent to a position somewhere between an office 
director and a DAS in the Department.  The senior woman at 
the MFA appears to be Eleonora Mitrofanova, head of the 
Center for International, Scientific and Cultural Cooperation 
(Roszarubezhtsentr), which promotes Russian language and 
culture abroad. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Public affairs is a part of the MFA where one may 
see more women at work, which one male diplomat said is "a 
good place for them."  A similar comment was made by 
diplomats from the North America Department, who said about 
their lone female colleague to attend an Embassy reception 
that handling visa issues was the "right place for her." 
Such attitudes appear to be widespread, and are fostered in 
the universities from which Russian diplomats emerge.  We 
were told that a professor at the school most diplomats 
attend greets his new international relations students as 
 
MOSCOW 00003086  002 OF 004 
 
 
"future Russian diplomats and their wives." 
 
¶8. (SBU) Considering the sexism that runs rampant in the MFA, 
women are found in surprisingly high numbers in the 
Department of New Threats and Challenges, which deals with 
terrorism and transnational crime.  When we commented upon 
this to Third Secretaries Maria Visloguzova and Svetlana 
Paraeva, they said that this reflected the fact that they 
worked in a newly created department that drew large numbers 
of recently arrived employees.  There was also an ingrained 
belief among Russian diplomats that "real diplomacy," i.e. 
bilateral relations, had to be handled by men, whereas 
multilateral or global issues were suitable for women. 
 
Moscow Universities:  The Russian NFATC 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The MFA does not have a NFATC-type facility and 
relies upon Moscow universities to train and staff the 
diplomatic corps.  The prestigious Moscow State Institute of 
International Relations (MGIMO) is formally affiliated with 
the MFA and provides approximately two-thirds of the new 
diplomats hired.  According to research by American Fulbright 
scholar Yelena Biberman, approximately 50-60 percent of 
international relations students at MGIMO plan to enter the 
MFA, although far fewer actually do.  The school, which costs 
7,000 Euros annually to attend, has become the leading 
university for those planning to enter the corporate or 
financial sectors, and has a reputation as the "hip" 
university attended by the children of the Russian elite. 
Many who intend to become diplomats find the school a great 
networking opportunity and opt to join the private sector 
instead.  Other schools feeding students into the MFA are 
Moscow State University (MGU), St. Petersburg State 
University and the Diplomatic Academy, a MFA-affiliated 
graduate school that is a favored destination of Moscow "rich 
kids" who have graduated from MGIMO or MGU. 
 
Language Driven Hiring 
---------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) Entering the MFA continues to depend upon language 
proficiency, with all new hires studying a language for four 
to seven years in university and graduate school.  The first 
requirement for applying to the MFA is passing a language 
exam administered by the universities, after which schools 
typically assess a student's academic performance and 
recommend them to the MFA.  In his interview, personnel 
director Morozov said that the majority of Russian diplomats 
are proficient in at least two foreign languages, and bragged 
that the MFA had 70 polyglots who spoke five or more 
languages. 
 
From the MFA to the Private Sector 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Junior officers have told us that the MFA has 
become a place of employment for children of the new Russian 
elite, who are drawn to the prestige of being a diplomat and 
whose personal wealth offsets the low entry-level salaries of 
$150-200 per month.  For young people of more modest means, 
the MFA is often seen as a career stepping stone to the 
private sector, where a good starting salary is $2,000-2,500 
per month.  According to a former Russian diplomat now 
earning six-figures at TNK-BP, his wife, a second secretary 
with several years of service, currently earns only $800 per 
month, about the same as someone working in a restaurant or 
hotel and less than a Moscow construction worker.  She has 
persevered in order to gain the experience and job skills 
that could translate into a plum private sector job.  Such a 
situation means the MFA may have difficulty retaining 
diplomats who are set to enter the middle ranks, where they 
are needed most.  This situation could change, however, if 
the current financial crisis limits private sector employment 
and makes a government job appear more stable. 
 
¶12. (SBU) According to former Russian diplomats, for those 
who decide to stay in the ministry, an office director 
equivalent can look forwarded to earning around $2000 per 
month and a DAS equivalent $4000.  In contrast, the average 
salary for an employee at a bank branch is $3,000 per month. 
Diplomats working in Moscow supplement their earnings through 
per diem received for TDYs and attending foreign conferences. 
 The goal for many is to serve overseas, which means extra 
pay and benefits. 
 
Vagaries of the Assignments Process 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
MOSCOW 00003086  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶13. (SBU) Unlike our relatively structured assignments 
process that provides some certainty as to the amount of time 
one may spend in the Department or at post, Russian diplomats 
often have a hard time saying how long they will remain in 
Moscow.  The junior attaches who arrive at the Ministry 
immediately after school can be there for a few months or 
four to five years, depending upon the department in which 
they work.  New attaches assigned to the Middle East and 
North Africa Department can quickly find themselves heading 
to an embassy that is short staffed, while junior or 
mid-level officers in the North America or European 
departments might be there for an extended period.  The MFA 
will not teach these diplomats new languages, so they are 
limited to serving in the embassies that require the 
languages they already have.  Their situation is compounded 
by the glacial promotion process, which makes the Department 
appear to move at warp speed. 
 
¶14. (SBU) According to our contacts, there is no time limit 
for remaining in Moscow, and Russian diplomats must agree to 
an assignment.  There are no directed assignments, which has 
caused considerable difficulty staffing hardship or hazardous 
postings such as Baghdad, which relies upon contractors that 
serve in a diplomatic capacity. 
 
¶15. (SBU) After an overseas assignment that typically lasts 
four years, Russian diplomats return to Moscow to work in 
their geographic bureaus.  While there are no professional 
cones for Russian diplomats, they tend to work throughout 
their careers within a geographic specialization determined 
by the foreign language they studied in school.  This 
hold-over from the Soviet period is slowly changing as more 
diplomats work on multilateral or global issues.  Second 
Secretary Alexander Trofimov worked in Buenos Aires before 
dealing with non-proliferation issues in the MFA Department 
for Security and Disarmament Affairs; he next goes to 
Washington. 
 
Location, Location, Location 
---------------------------- 
 
¶16. (SBU) Working in Moscow presents a unique set of 
challenges for Russian diplomats, requiring them to have a 
home in one of the most expensive cities in the world.  While 
there are similarities to American FSOs fretting about losing 
their hardship and language differential by taking a position 
in the Department, Russian diplomats can look forward to 
returning to a Brezhnev-era apartment block and not a house 
in Fairfax.  Astronomically high real estate prices mean that 
in most instances, they must already own an apartment in 
Moscow, a situation that helps ensure that the MFA remains 
dominated by Muscovites who had an apartment ceded to their 
families at the end of communism or who bought one in the 
1990s.  Diplomats from elsewhere in Russia are rare, as they 
cannot afford to rent or buy a home in the capital. 
 
¶17. (SBU) One diplomat from St. Petersburg explained how he 
did three consecutive postings in Africa, an atypical 
occurrence that may have hurt his career, because he could 
not afford to rent in Moscow.  He finally landed one of a 
handful of subsidized apartments the MFA has for its 
officers.  Ivan Gorbunov, an MFA veteran of 12 years and 
one-half of a rare tandem couple, said that he and his wife 
took postings in Belgrade soon after joining the MFA because 
they could not afford to live in Moscow.  Only through 
savings from both incomes could the couple afford to purchase 
an apartment and work at the Ministry, where he heads the 
Bosnia desk and she covers Croatia and Montenegro. 
 
The "Results of Feminism" 
------------------------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) Russian diplomats have told us that the booming 
Moscow economy has made remaining at the MFA a more lucrative 
proposition for those with spouses employed in the private 
sector.  In the male-dominated MFA, this means that working 
wives are typically earning more than their 
government-employed husbands.  Their joint incomes make it 
possible to enjoy Moscow's vibrant consumer culture, and 
provide a disincentive to go overseas, leading to a greater 
reliance on junior officers to fill embassy positions. 
 
¶19. (SBU) Afghan desk chief Yuri Kholkhov said that his wife 
earns more than he does by working at a car dealership, which 
makes it difficult to leave Moscow now that they have a baby. 
 Iraq desk officer Elbrus Kutrashev commented that the MFA 
now has to deal with the "results of feminism" and is 
examining ways to provide incentives for married diplomats to 
go overseas.  This will be difficult to achieve, as the 
 
MOSCOW 00003086  004 OF 004 
 
 
Ministry has little experience helping spouses find 
employment.  Kutrashev lamented that his wife would soon have 
to give up her job when the family heads to Damascus.  The 
consolation of the posting being that the large Russian 
presence means a good school for their children. 
 
Limited School Choices Overseas 
------------------------------- 
 
¶20. (SBU) Russian diplomats have complained of the limited 
school choices they have for their children when posted 
overseas.  Unlike English speakers, who can easily find 
overseas English language schools, Russians are typically 
limited to the single school run by their embassy.  In 
smaller posts, there might not be a Russian school, or the 
school may only go from grades one to four, significantly 
limiting assignment possibilities.  Africa Department 
Counselor Andrei Stolyarov said that in three-person African 
posts where there are no Russian schools, an embassy may have 
an ambassador whose children are grown and an unmarried 
junior officer.  The married with children mid-level officer 
bears the burden of leaving his family in Moscow. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶21. (SBU) Salaries, assignments, and schools:  Russian 
diplomats may share some of the same concerns as American 
FSOs, but their experience is in many ways different.  The 
meager salaries earned by Russian diplomats make life 
particularly difficult in Moscow, where inflation is 
currently 12 percent and even foreign diplomats have a hard 
time getting by with their extra benefits.  Medvedev and FM 
Lavrov have said that raising pay and addressing the 
contemporary needs of diplomats and their families is a 
priority, but until the large number of under-30 
professionals move up through the ranks, the ministry will 
continue to be run by "traditionalists" who joined under 
communism. 
 
¶22. (SBU) The MFA appears more like the Department did in 
another age, with no attempt to hide sexism, a rigid top-down 
management style, limited use of modern communications 
technology, and what appears to be a Soviet-like effort to 
maintain control of information and contacts with foreign 
diplomats (septel).  While we frequently meet open and 
engaging Russian diplomats, the unique nature of the MFA 
contributes to the challenging environment in which we work. 
BEYRLE