VZCZCXRO9812
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #1185/01 1281351
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081351Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3206
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MOSCOW 001185 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL KIRF SOCI RS
SUBJECT: NEW KHAKASSIA GOVERNOR PUSHES ECONOMIC REFORM, 
SALUTES KREMLIN 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary.  A recent trip to the small southern 
Siberian republic of Khakassia revealed strong local 
government clearly support for the United Russia party, 
despite difficult economic challenges in the near future. 
Newly-appointed Governor Zimin has established his reputation 
as a Medvedev loyalist, having vowed in the runup to the 
March 1 parliamentary elections to squash all opposition 
parties.  Economically, he made promises reminiscent of the 
Communist era, pledging to improve Khakassia's living 
standards by developing local agriculture and animal 
husbandry.  With close ties to Russian Railroad Director 
Yakunin and Emergency Situations Minister Shoygu, Zimin 
entered office well-positioned for success.  However, 
Khakassia's capital of Abakan boasts few serious business 
ties and serves as a mere waystation for Trans-Siberian 
travelers, complicating Zimin's ability to deliver from the 
outset.  Few social tensions burden the residents of 
Khakassia, while academics applauded a rebirth in native 
culture.  Protestant religious groups, still reeling from 
past harassment and discrimination, hope cautiously for 
improved conditions for free religious observation.  End 
Summary. 
 
United Russia: Leader of Pack in Khakassia 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU)  Administration representatives welcomed the first 
visit by an United States Government representative with some 
trepidation, offering scripted support for United Russia (ER) 
leadership.  Electoral Commission Chairman Viktor Gubin 
welcomed us to Khakassia by touting United Russia's recent 
March 1 electoral success, even though the margin of victory 
in the parliamentary elections proved slimmer than expected. 
He told us April 27 that the United Russia party received 
almost 56 percent of the votes (with a 46 percent turnout) in 
the March 1 voting for the Supreme Council, easily surpassing 
its nearest competitors from the Communist Party (15 
percent), Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (10 percent), 
Just Russia (7.6 percent), and the local Patriots of Russia 
(7.5 percent), with the latter only being allowed to register 
after intervention by the Russian Central Electoral 
Commission.  APN Moscow news agency reported on March 27, 
however, that ER received just under 48 percent of the vote, 
and that Zimin himself had tried to keep opposition parties 
out of the race, promising to drive the "Patriots of Russia" 
or similar opposition groups from the political stage. 
According to a Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta article from 
March 3, Zimin also had issued a pre-election warning to all 
opposition candidates not to criticize the current regime. 
APN claimed that the General Council of United Russia decided 
to pay local party branches large sums of money for achieving 
certain benchmarks, including a 750,000 ruble (approximately 
22,700 USD) payout to regions which garnered from 55 to 70 
percent of the vote, providing ER with a potential incentive 
for vote rigging. 
 
Kremlin Solidarity 
------------------ 
 
¶3. (SBU)  Zimin assumed his post on January 15, having been 
nominated by Medvedev in December 2008.  Zimin, who 
reportedly maintains close ties to his former superior at the 
Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin (Note: Zimin headed the 
Krasnoyarsk Railway Department's Abakan Division until 
December 2007) and Minister of Emergency Situations Sergey 
Shoygu, served as a State Duma Deputy and replaced outgoing 
Governor Aleksey Lebed.  While rumors surrounded the 
departure of Lebed, most experts were not surprised.  A 
recent index of governor's performances placed Lebed near the 
bottom of the list, and First Deputy Minister of the 
Presidential Administration Vladislav Surkov commented on 
February 17 that Lebed's removal was "hardly a random 
decision."  According to Russian daily Gazeta on December 8, 
2008, Foundation for the Development of Information Policy's 
regional program leader Aleksandr Kynev stated that the 
locally popular Lebed, who had headed the region since 1996, 
lost out to Zimin because of his tense relations with Moscow. 
 Hardly falling on tough times, Lebed managed to land a 
position in the State Duma after his term expired. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  Khakassia Republic dual representative for the 
Civil Front and Right Cause movements Galina Gorchakova 
cautiously explained to us April 28 that, while she did not 
necessarily support the views of the recently elected 
governor of the Khakassia Republic, it was "too early to 
judge his performance," noting that Zimin's push to improve 
the republic's agriculture, transportation, and tourism 
sectors could boost the welfare of the local population. 
Admitting that local opposition movements had achieved 
virtually zero traction with the republic's populace, she 
 
MOSCOW 00001185  002 OF 003 
 
 
found herself acting more as a reporter than a political 
organizer.  The broad diversity of party representation in 
local politics encouraged Gorchakova, but she doubted that 
smaller parties would successfully voice their opinions, 
ultimately becoming lapdogs of United Russia.  Abakan City 
Council Chairwoman Zinaida Telina gave us the official line 
on April 28, saying that Zimin brought new energy to 
Khakassia's development, and that the entire city government 
stood "ready to support him at all levels." 
 
Everything in the Periodic Table 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) In Khakassia, Chamber of Commerce and Trade 
President Serzh Bakhshiyevich Adamyan marketed the republic's 
vast mineral reserves, repeating the old Soviet adage that 
"every element in the periodic table was under the ground of 
Khakassia."  But when the discussion turned from potential to 
productivity, he lamented how Khakassia's "unlucky global 
position" made it difficult for investors to reach the 
region.  While hydroelectricity, light metals, and the coal 
sector in Khakassia continued to serve as a backbone to its 
financial stability, the region needed to concentrate on 
expansion of its agricultural and animal husbandry sectors in 
order to reduce the levels of imports it has historically 
required.  Adamyan added that the effects of global warming 
had helped to diversify the region's crop yields, saying that 
Siberians can now grow watermelons, apricots, and grapes.  He 
noted that the republic's strong ties with the EU, China, 
Ukraine, Australia, and Turkey could serve as a launching pad 
for future investment, which was not currently significant. 
Khakassia's potential for tourism also stirred Adamyan to 
produce pictures and short films of its natural treasures and 
modern conveniences, including a state-of-the-art ski resort. 
 Unfortunately, Khakassia's position as the half-way point 
between Moscow and Vladivostok gave few, including Adamyan, 
the illusion that tourists would flock in great number to 
Abakan. 
 
Economy Going Down With Deripaska 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU)  While agreeing that unemployment was higher than 
the official level of 3.4 percent, Adamyan underlined the 
region's independence from foreign labor and migration, 
saying that the small Chinese, Tajik, and Kyrgyz diasporas 
accounted for less than one percent of the total population. 
The downturn in oligarch Oleg Deripaska's RusAl operations in 
Krasnoyarsk had impacted the labor force and production 
levels of Khakassia most severely, according to Adamyan, 
causing a large but uncertain number of redundancies.  While 
the region had imported a large number of materials used in 
aluminum foil production, those relationships with other 
countries had recently dried up.  United Russia continued to 
mobilize support for its anti-crisis plan, organizing a rally 
on January 31 with demonstrators bearing signs with the 
slogan "People-Medvedev-Putin, We shall win Together!" 
Considering that the average wage in Abakan totals just 
17,000 rubles per month (approximately 515 USD), Adamyan 
admitted that no level of government support will prevent 
high school and college graduates from seeking more lucrative 
opportunities in Moscow. 
 
Cultural Revitalization 
----------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU)  Head researcher at Khakassia State University's 
Humanitarian Research Institute Larissa Anzhiganova 
characterized respect for Khakass culture in the republic as 
"improved," and categorically better than in the Soviet era. 
She drew attention to the increasing number of cultural 
programs celebrating Khakass traditions, shamanism, and 
ethnic diversity in the region, and noted that ethnic Khakass 
had ascended to the highest ranks in local government and 
business despite constituting only 12 percent of the 
populace.  Anzhiganova added that the Khakass language, 
listed as "definitely endangered" by UNESCO, could also see a 
resurgence because of the republic's internal migration 
patterns.  Young high school graduates from rural 
Khakass-speaking families continued to move to Abakan in 
search of work, bringing their language skills with them to 
the Russian-speaking capital.  Taking the next step from 
preservation to expansion of the language will be more 
difficult, she noted, since the number of teachers with 
passable skills was low. 
 
Religious Freedom For Most, But Not All 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  While shamanism and Russian Orthodoxy flourish in 
 
MOSCOW 00001185  003 OF 003 
 
 
the region, some religious groups suffer from government 
interference.  Though Deputy Minister of Inter-Ethnic and 
Religious Affairs for the Republic of Khakassia Irina 
Katsybina told us that there never have been any conflicts on 
religious grounds in the republic, Pastor Ruslan Belokhevich 
and Assistant Pastor Aleksandr Prus of the Glorification 
Pentecostal Church in Abakan felt differently.  They told us 
on April 27 that although current conditions under Governor 
Zimin appeared calm, the FSB had harassed numerous church 
members from 2004 to 2006, and government officials had 
denied their right to worship on many occasions.  He 
attributed the harassment to Putin's policies, but believed 
that Medvedev would continue to pursue a more liberal path 
that favored minority religions.  The one issue which greatly 
concerned them, however, was the recent appointment of 
Alexander Dvorkin as the head of the Ministry of Justice's 
Committee on Religious Expertise.  Both pastors feared that 
this development could signal an immediate deterioration of 
conditions for evangelical Christians, and could impact the 
effectiveness of the church's youth campaigns to combat drug 
abuse and abortion.  Noting that some other groups such as 
Jehovah's Witnesses faced discrimination, Belokhevich said 
that the Pentecostals had suffered the most at the hands of 
the local authorities as he pulled the SIM card from his cell 
phone to prevent FSB eavesdropping.  Baptist pastor Sergey 
Stalmatov also noted that the Pentecostals faced 
disproportionate attention, but could not discern why. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶9. (SBU)  Abakan's position on a southern spur of the 
Trans-Siberian Railroad will keep it relevant, especially if 
large enterprises such as RusAl can again establish a strong 
position in the region, but few will rush to exploit its 
mineral or natural bounty.  In order to expand its local 
agriculture or tourism sectors, Khakassia will need massive 
investment from the federal government, an unlikely 
development considering Moscow's recent decision to decrease 
allotments for infrastructure. 
RUBIN