US embassy cable - 05MINSK1365

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 001365 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/PPD WIERICHS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/15 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, BO 
SUBJECT: Ambassador's Trip to Mozyr 
 
Classified by Ambassador George Krol for Reasons 1.4 (B,D) 
 
1. (SBU) Ambassador and Emboffs visited the southeastern 
Belarusian city of Mozyr November 3 and 4.  Ambassador met 
with the head of Mozyr refinery and toured the facility 
(septel), opened the Embassy's tenth American corner in a 
local library, gave interviews to local print and broadcast 
media, met with city officials and representatives of the 
local political opposition, and visited a local Chernobyl 
relief/student dance NGO.  On the way back to Minsk 
Ambassador paid respects to victims of a German WWII 
Concentration Camp at a memorial and spoke with local 
officials in Azarichi. 
 
 
Embassy Minsk's Tenth American Corner 
------------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) Ambassador opened the tenth American Corner in 
Belarus at the Mozyr Central Regional Library.  In a 
ceremony attended by local government officials and over 30 
local librarians and teachers, Ambassador made an official 
donation of books, CD-Roms, audio-visual equipment, 
computers and internet connectivity valued in excess of USD 
20,000.  To date, the USG has supported the American Corner 
Program in Belarus in the amount of over USD 250,000. 
 
 
Typical Struggling Opposition 
----------------------------- 
 
3. (C) On November 3 Ambassador met with Leonid Orlov of 
the UCP (and the only opposition member on the city 
council), Vladimir Zhoblo of the BPC, and Vladimir Phelipun 
on the Vyasna human rights NGO.  According to this group, 
most voters worry about a difficult economic situation. 
Prices for communal services (rent and utilities) are 
rising faster than salaries.  The typical resident of Mozyr 
works 40 percent of his time to pay taxes, and the number 
of private enterprises in the town is shrinking, from 2,800 
in 2004 to 2,080 now.  However, in many cases pensioners 
receive more from the state than workers earn, so the 
elderly largely support Lukashenko.  Much of the rest of 
the population is politically passive.  Typically, in fact, 
many residents think Lukashenko would solve their problems 
(caused by local officials), if he only knew of them. 
 
4. (C) Mozyr's only independent newspaper was closed 
several years ago, and it is hard to find independent 
papers from Minsk.  Even though Mozyr is only 40 kilometers 
from the Ukrainian border, residents do not receive 
Ukrainian television or radio.  State media propaganda that 
Ukraine is much worse off then Belarus is widely believed. 
 
5. (C) Party membership is very small in Mozyr, and members 
face problems from authorities.  Mozyr, a town of 110,000, 
has less than one hundred activists (UCP 23 members, BPF 
20, and BPC 40).  When the local parties held their 
convention to choose delegates for the 10+ coalition, two 
young "drunks" arrived at the house where they were 
meeting.  Immediately, 23 police officers came to disrupt 
the meeting because "of reports of a fight."  However, the 
"drunks" themselves had only just arrived and had not had a 
chance to stage anything, so the police left.  On October 
22 police, claiming to be looking for illegal firearms, 
raided Orlov's home while the parties were meeting with a 
Polish NGO.  Police detained everyone for three hours and 
deported the two NGO representatives.  Despite such 
problems, the opposition has some successes.  After 
complaints of official falsification in the 2003 local 
elections, the head of the local election commission held a 
fair recount of the vote.  This led to the UCP's Orlov 
being elected to the city council.  Surprisingly, the local 
commission head did not lose his job. 
 
6. (C) When asked what they have done to support the 
election of Milinkevich as their presidential candidate, 
Vyasna admitted it distributed 1,000 leaflets giving 
background on Milinkevich.  However, none of the 10+ 
parties had done anything to support his candidacy locally. 
Local Engagement a Success 
-------------------------- 
 
7. (C) In meetings with the deputy mayor of Mozyr as well 
as local officials in Azarichi, Ambassador discussed ways 
the U.S. Embassy could engage with the local population in 
areas of culture, health and social issues.  Officials were 
cautiously open to such contact, but it was apparent they 
had no authority to engage without approval from Minsk. 
 
8. (C) The opening of the American Corner was well attended 
and cordial, although fully orchestrated by the local 
authorities, who, while supportive of our initiative, were 
very cautious about it.  Again, once they got approval from 
on high to engage, they were very supportive. 
 
9. (C) Ambassador gave several interviews to local state 
media (no independent media exists in Mozyr).  Journalists 
queried Ambassador about his visit and pressed us on 
explaining American efforts to export democracy to Belarus. 
Ambassador stressed common democratic values that should be 
shared by Americans and Belarusians alike and noted that 
the U.S. supports the democratic process as the preferred 
way for societies to resolve issues, not through violence, 
revolution or intimidation.  We doubt the state media will 
show or print our replies as they are tools of the regime's 
propaganda machine.  Still, this visit and continued 
engagement shows people in remote areas that the U.S. cares 
about them and wishes to hear them.  As the first 
ambassadorial visit to Mozyr, we view this effort as a 
success.  In fact, a few of our interlocutors told 
Ambassador that they have family members who visited the 
U.S. and came back favorably impressed, as well as some who 
remember U.S. support during WWII.  These people seemed 
genuinely proud the U.S. Ambassador came to visit their 
locale.  Moreover, we sensed the conflict they feel between 
what they are told by their ideological controllers and 
what they feel in their hearts. 
 
 
KROL