VZCZCXRO8789
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #1174/01 1271414
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071414Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3183
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 001174 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL KIRF SOCI RS
SUBJECT: TUVA: LONELY REPUBLIC SEEKS STABLE RELATIONSHIP 
WITH...ANYONE 
 
REF: 06 MOSCOW 11276 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary.  A recent trip to the remote Siberian 
republic of Tuva revealed overwhelming support for the ruling 
United Russia party, but social and economic isolation from 
the rest of the country.  The capital of Tuva trumpeted no 
major businesses and relied on government allocations, small 
business development, and limited tourism for its success. 
With his recent criticism of federal government incompetency 
for declining social and economic conditions in the region, 
Republic of Tuva leader Kara-ool sparked old and improbable 
rumors that the republic would secede from Russia.  Facing 
the highest unemployment levels in Siberia, Tuvan economic 
leaders pointed to the importance of a proposed railroad from 
Krasnoyarsk and the reestablishment of direct flights to 
Moscow as to its financial future.  Local leaders are 
considering designating shamanism, a prominent practice in 
Siberia, as a religion rather than a tradition, with shamans 
further roiled by a proposal to elect the first Supreme 
Shaman of Russia.  The majority Buddhist population enjoys 
freedom of worship without constraint.  End Summary. 
 
In Tuva, United Russia Is the Only Show in Town 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Officials in Tuva noted that United Russia 
maintained a firm grasp on the administration's reins.  Local 
party head Sonam Eres Mongun-oolovich told us that recent 
party polling across the republic indicated that 
approximately 90 percent of Tuvan's residents supported 
United Russia and its policies.  Certainly, past indicators 
(reftel) and local council election results from the towns of 
Turan and Ak-Dovurak served as evidence of United Russia's 
popularity, with polling stations in both locations recording 
80 to 93 percent support for its candidates.  When asked 
about the reason for the party's popularity, Mongun-oolovich 
stated that the population simply "believed in Medvedev and 
Putin" and, of course, supported local hero and Minister of 
Emergency Situations Sergey Shoygu's role in the 
administration.  Yet, Mongun-oolovich quickly admitted that 
local party members would not consider deviating from or 
tweaking the national party platform to fit local needs, 
saying that "we simply implement the plans from Moscow." 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Local Communist Party of the Russian Federation 
(KPRF) leader Vladimir Gubtsov told us that 10 percent of the 
Tuvan Republic population backed his party, but he "felt 
confident" that as many as 30 percent could be persuaded to 
vote for the KPRF.  Acknowledging that his party faced 
long-term hurdles since the average age of its supporters was 
57, he believed that pensioners and farmers would always turn 
to the KPRF to fight for social equality.  Peddling 
fundamental Communist platform issues, Gubtsov promised to 
work with United Russia to address the housing crisis in 
Kyzyl, exacerbated by Tuva's worsening rural-to-urban 
migration that has hobbled its civil services.  He also 
touted a hackneyed approach to Tuva's problems: taking the 
money in the Russian government's oil stabilization fund and 
dividing it up among its citizens so that "everyone can own a 
car and have something to eat." 
 
Secession from Russia? 
---------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Republic of Tuva head Sholban Kara-ool 
coincidentally fanned conspiracy theories about Tuvan desires 
for secession when he announced at an April 20 press 
conference that Tuvan authorities found federal government 
activities deleterious to the socio-economic situation in the 
region.  Kara-ool blamed federal tax and customs officials 
for obstructing local businesses, a notion supported by the 
federal inspector for Tuva, Aleksandr Popov.  Both pressed 
regional and federal authorities to cooperate and draft new 
agreements that would enable local businesses to succeed, yet 
no government officials could cite any concrete proposals to 
reach their goals.  Head of the Federal Tax Service for Tuva 
Dmitry Kastyrin simply rebutted Kara-ool's argument by saying 
that Tuvan entrepreneurs had shirked tax payments for years, 
and now the federal government is just trying to enforce 
local tax payments.  Rector of the University of Tuva Ondar 
Oktyaevich doubted that any concrete plans to resolve local 
social issues would materialize, telling us on April 30 that 
such debates have existed in Tuva for as long as he could 
remember.  More importantly, he noted with conviction that 
Tuva would "remain a part of the Russian Federation, no 
matter what the media says." 
 
Economic Success: Location, Location, Location 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
 
MOSCOW 00001174  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5. (SBU)  Tuva's near isolation from the rest of Russia 
continues to determine, in part, its economic success or 
failure.  Director for External Economic Affairs for Tuva 
Rolmaa Monge explained to us on April 29 that the development 
of a proposed Kuragino-Kyzyl railroad line is the most 
important prospective economic project for the republic, one 
that could "make us self-sufficient and not reliant on 
federal government allocations."  Expected to cost almost 100 
billion rubles (approximately three billion dollars) and 
employ 18,000 workers and 4,000 specialists, the 415 
kilometer track will probably run alongside the M-54 highway, 
the only other overland route linking Tuva to the rest of 
Siberia.  While a completion date has not been set, project 
bidding will continue until 2014.  Monge highlighted Kyzyl's 
poor airline connections as a second hurdle to development, 
noting that direct flights from Moscow ceased in 2005 because 
of financial losses, and that Novosibirsk Avia only restarted 
flights to Krasnoyarsk in April 2009.  Coupled with the 
constant threat posed by avalanches along the M-54 that block 
all overland traffic during Tuva's harsh winters, Monge 
believed that nothing significant would change in the 
republic until the completion of these transportation 
projects. 
 
¶6. (SBU)  Kyzyl Mayor Vyacheslav Khovalyg also alluded to the 
problems caused by Tuva's virtual separation from the 
remainder of the country.  First of all, he pointed to the 
impact of Tuva's harsh climate (the average annual 
temperature is only 0.5 degrees Celsius), noting that the 
city administration constantly prepared for the upcoming 
winter.  He expressed great pride that no major fuel delivery 
or heating accidents had occurred in the past year, an event 
that can become fatal considering that repairs or rescues can 
take a considerable amount of time and costly because of the 
republic's geographical isolation.  Despite possessing 
enormous deposits of copper, cobalt, nickel, and uranium -- 
and the world's third largest deposit of coke coal (over 900 
million tons) -- the republic has lagged far behind the rest 
of Russia economically, in large part because of Tuva's poor 
technological development and inability to transport mined 
materials.  That said, one of the world's largest asbestos 
mines located in Ak-Dovurak served as Western Tuva's main 
economic vehicle, an example of some limited success. 
Khovalyg placed a high priority on the repair of declining 
economic relations with Mongolia, noting that cross-border 
trade had dropped over 50 percent since the economic crisis. 
 
 
Unemployment Buckling Tuva's Knees 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  The recent post-crisis rise in unemployment in 
Russia has particularly stung, with the Omsk Guberniya news 
agency reporting on April 14 that "official" unemployment in 
the Republic of Tuva was the highest in all of Siberia at 8.5 
percent.  While most officials in Tuva held poker faces, 
stating that local unemployment numbers were even below those 
of European Russia, some acknowledged that unemployment 
constituted a huge problem and real statistics exceeded the 
official numbers.  Drug trafficking served as a lucrative and 
attractive alternative to unemployment for some Tuvan youth, 
who helped to supply one-third of the Russian marijuana 
market, according to Monge.  Tuva also boasted one of 
Russia's highest birth and highest death rates, respectively, 
creating potentially tense conditions for Tuva's 
disproportionately young population in the future. 
 
Shamanism:  Religion or Tradition? 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  While the practice of Shamanism has served as a 
relatively untouched form of healing and traditional faith 
for centuries in Siberia, two controversial events squarely 
placed the practice in the spotlight.  Local government 
officials in Tuva and its neighboring republics were 
considering whether to designate shamanism as a religion, 
requiring its practitioners to comply with registration 
procedures required of other religions, or as a tradition or 
philosophy.  The ramifications for shamans in the region 
could be significant, especially considering the onerous 
reporting requirements and impact on their finances. 
President-for-Life of the Tuva Shamans Kenin-Lopsan Mongush 
supported the idea of shamanism as a religion, saying "there 
can be no other explanation of its power."  He noted that 
shamans are born healers, chosen by a higher power to help 
others.  On the other hand, in the neighboring republic of 
Khakassia, Society of Traditional Faith of Khakassia Shaman 
Viktor Kishteyev scoffed at the idea, saying that shamanism 
had always been a spiritual method for healing the sick -- 
not a religion -- and did not need regulation by the 
 
MOSCOW 00001174  003 OF 003 
 
 
Department of Health, nor the Ministry of Justice.  "Those 
who have proposed the idea have probably never experienced a 
ceremony to begin with."  Both the Ministries of Justice and 
Health continued to consider ways to regulate the practice, 
but with no firm deadline in sight. 
 
¶9. (SBU)  The second debate centered on a proposal to hold 
the first election in history of a Supreme Shaman of Russia. 
On April 27, the Shamanism Journal (www.shamanstvo.ru) 
released a list of 188 candidates for the election, a notion 
supported by the majority of shamans in the Republic of 
Buryatia but bitterly opposed by over 300 shamans in Tuva. 
In spite of the fact that 52 of the 188 candidates reside in 
Tuva, Mongush explained to us on April 29 that the shamans in 
Buryatia "have their own agenda, and only want to have power 
for power's sake."  As one of the most respected people in 
Tuva, Mongush believed that pure shamanism should have no 
connection to politics, only to healing the sick (Note: 
Mongush's picture was in numerous government buildings, 
museums, and cafes as evidence of his local respect. End 
note).  Subsequent to these comments, Mongush demanded that 
we purchase a set of his writings for 5,000 rubles 
(approximately 150 USD) and pass them to the Library of 
Congress as a gesture of the United States' respect for the 
meeting, justifying the request because "he did not like 
politics."  Khakassia's Kishteyev supported Mongush's 
comments on April 27, yet added that Mongush himself already 
had established his power in Tuva, and losing an election to 
a Buryat shaman would diminish Mongush's status, a potential 
motive for his outspoken opposition.  Elections are scheduled 
for late 2009. 
 
Buddhists Content with Religious Situation 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶10. (SBU)  The majority Buddhist population in Tuva -- 
approximately 65 percent of all residents -- enjoyed freedom 
of worship without constraint, a sharp contrast to early 
Soviet terror unleashed on Buddhist monks and the subsequent 
strain of Communist atheism.  Aside from a new Russian 
Orthodox cathedral and a few Buddhist temples, Kyzyl did not 
have any other obvious halls of worship.  Republic of Tuva 
head for religious affairs Oorzhak Dadar-oolovich told us 
that only a few Protestant groups existed in Tuva, largely 
because of the difficulty for missionaries to travel to and 
work in the region (Note:  the republic registered only 9,000 
foreign visitors in 2008, 96 of whom were Americans 
visitors).  He did note that an Old Believer group lived in 
utter isolation from the rest of Tuvan society in the north 
of the region, abiding by their own laws and practices. 
Dadar-oolovich attributed the spirit of religious freedom in 
Tuva, to some degree, to the republic's history of religious 
persecution.  Shaman Mongush claimed, however, that the 
government had discriminated against him as the head shaman 
of the republic, refusing to grant him ownership rights of 
the house he had lived and worked in since the Soviet era. 
Dadar-oolovich explained that the Tuvan government had 
offered to build and equip Mongush with a new house and 
worship center in a different part of town, but refused to 
cede the plot located next to the Republic of Tuva House of 
Government in which Mongush currently lives. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU)  Tuva's future rests, to some degree, on the 
improvement of its transportation corridors, and local 
officials do not expect any major developments in the next 
ten years.  Once it does establish a direct rail link with 
the rest of Siberia, whether the republic's vast natural 
resources will be exploited depends on global demand for 
these materials. 
RUBIN