VZCZCXRO5005
PP RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #0389 0490608
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 180608Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1983
INFO RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000389 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/ECA 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.  12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PGOV PHUM RS
SUBJECT: IRC Chief Says Working in Chechnya Getting Easier 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The International Rescue Committee (IRC)'s Russia 
Country Director spoke with Moscow diplomats February 11 about his 
work in the North Caucasus, some of it funded by State/PRM, and 
about the difficulty of functioning amid instability and corruption. 
 Despite the obstacles, IRC's ability to operate in Chechnya has 
improved, while competing political forces in Dagestan present a 
challenge.  Humanitarian NGOs working in the region accept that 
violence is an operational hazard.  IRC has begun to contemplate its 
exit from the region with an eye to sustainability.  End Summary. 
Roundtable Gathers Embassies and NGO Implementer 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
¶2. (U) Representatives of ECHO and of the French, Dutch, Danish, and 
Swedish Embassies met at Refcoord's invitation February 11 to hear 
from Thomas Hill, IRC's Grozniy-based country director who was in 
Moscow for consultations with donors.  Hill, an American citizen and 
former Peace Corps volunteer, has worked in Russia for six years, 
the last year and a half for IRC in the North Caucasus. In 2008 IRC 
moved its headquarters from Nazran, Ingushetia, to Grozniy, 
Chechnya. In part this is because the organization is presently 
seeking to focus its efforts on Chechnya and Dagestan, Hill 
explained.  But trends in communal violence are such that he also 
now feels safer in Chechnya than in Ingushetia.  While he 
acknowledged that security at IRC's group home in Grozniy is 
imperfect, Hill quipped that he sleeps comfortably there, whereas to 
spend the night in Nazran he would want no less than a fortress. 
¶3. (U) IRC is one of three FY09 PRM NGO partners operating in 
Russia. Active in 42 countries worldwide, it focuses in the North 
Caucasus on livelihood projects; water and sanitation; large-scale 
economic projects, such as the development of partnerships between 
agricultural cooperatives and small businesses; and grassroots 
empowerment through community mobilization. Hill believes that of 
these, the last is the most important because it will produce the 
greatest long-term results. This is particularly pertinent because 
the GOR will likely ask foreign NGOs to leave the region as the 2014 
Sochi Olympics approach, Hill predicted. 
Operating in the North Caucasus No Cakewalk 
------------------------------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) The Ingush republican government created numerous problems 
for Hill, who last year successfully took the local Federal 
Migration Service to court after it attempted to deport an IRC 
contract employee. The combination of government-sponsored violence, 
criminal violence, and rebel violence, along with ethnic 
animosities, creates a chaotic situation.  Violence will continue to 
hinder the efforts of human rights activists. Referring to 
Ingushetia.ru editor Magomed Yevloyev's August 2008 murder, Hill 
said that it was "horrible, but expected. . .it is a part of the 
work we are doing." 
¶5. (SBU) Hill finds operating in Chechnya much easier than in 
Ingushetia, although IRC must pay the republican government for 
required extra security. After a prolonged period in late 2007 and 
early 2008 of denials of access to expatriate staff, Chechnya now 
grants entry relatively readily.  Hill assiduously cultivates 
contacts in all agencies and levels of the government, having 
discovered that even ministries tasked with coordinating liaison 
jealously guard his reports to them.  Having "nothing to hide" in 
IRC's activities, Hill even meets regularly with the FSB.  He made a 
point of inviting that agency's officials to inspect IRC's new 
Grozniy headquarters "to evaluate security" before the organization 
moved in. 
¶6. (SBU) The situation in Dagestan is different from that in 
Chechnya and Ingushetia, according to Hill. He described the 
republic as being like the American Wild West: "everyone carries a 
gun and would kill you for your bicycle." Hill believes the 
instability there is tied more to criminality than politics - 
radical Islam is a comparatively minor factor in Dagestan. The 
republican government is wary of outside contacts, but the local 
government is receptive to proposed IRC assistance. Hill shared a 
story of IRC offering to help the Khasavyurt government recover from 
a locust infestation in summer 2008. While local officials, who 
grimly displayed formaldehyde-preserved locusts in their offices, 
welcomed the offer, republican officials refused to sign off.  There 
were no locusts in Dagestan, insisted the administration in 
Makhachkala. 
¶7. (SBU) Though IRC will continue to apply for grants to fund North 
Caucasus programs for another year or two, Hill said he is already 
advising his U.S. headquarters on an exit strategy. He hopes to 
leave behind a for-profit business, which he believes is more 
sustainable than a spun-off domestic NGO. Ideally, a successful 
business or businesses would eventually use their profits for civil 
society and local development. Hill reiterated the importance of 
empowering communities by giving them the tools they need to solve 
their own problems, instead of solely giving aid. 
Comment 
------- 
¶8. (SBU) The assembled diplomats mostly represented donors who have 
already or will soon pull out of the North Caucasus.  Under the 
circumstances, Hill's emphasis on teaching communities to do for 
themselves seems essential to beneficiaries' survival. 
BEYRLE