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The Medvedev Thaw: Is It Real? Will It Last?

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The Medvedev Thaw: Is It Real? Will It Last? THE MEDVEDEV THAW: IS IT REAL? WILL IT LAST? HEARING BEFORE THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JUNE 23, 2009 Printed for the use of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe [CSCE 111–1–4] ( Available via http://www.csce.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–512 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:23 Sep 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 U:\WORK\062309.TXT KATIE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS HOUSE SENATE ALCEE L. HASTINGS, Florida, BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland, Co-Chairman Chairman EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts CHRISTOPHER J. DODD, Connecticut LOUISE McINTOSH SLAUGHTER, SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island New York TOM UDALL, New Mexico MIKE McINTYRE, North Carolina JEANNE SHAHEEN, New Hampshire G.K. BUTTERFIELD, North Carolina SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey SAXBY CHAMBLISS, Georgia ROBERT B. ADERHOLT, Alabama RICHARD BURR, North Carolina JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania ROBERT F. WICKER, Mississippi DARRELL E. ISSA, California EXECUTIVE BRANCH COMMISSIONERS VACANT, Department of State VACANT, Department of Defense ALEXANDER VERSHBOW, DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE (II) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:23 Sep 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 U:\WORK\062309.TXT KATIE THE MEDVEDEV THAW: IS IT REAL? WILL IT LAST? JUNE 23, 2009 COMMISSIONERS Page Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman, Commission on Secu- rity and Cooperation in Europe .............................................. 1 Hon. Darrell E. Issa, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe ..................................................... 16 WITNESSES Sergey Cherepanov, Russia Coordinator, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania ......................................... 3 Musa Klebnikov, Executive Director, The Paul Klebnikov Fund ......................................................................................... 6 William Browder, Chief Executive Officer, Hermitage Capital Management Limited .............................................................. 9 Sarah E. Mendelson, Director, Human Rights and Security Initiative, and Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Pro- gram, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) ....................................................................................... 21 APPENDICES Prepared statement of Hon. Alcee L. Hastings ........................ 30 Prepared statement of Hon. Christopher Smith ....................... 31 Prepared statement of Hon. Joseph R. Pitts ............................. 32 Prepared statement of Sergey Cherepanov ............................... 33 Prepared statement of Musa Klebnikov .................................... 36 Prepared statement of William Browder .................................. 39 Prepared statement of Sarah E. Mendelson ............................. 48 Material submitted for the record by: The Russian Federation .......................................................... 54 The European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Wit- nesses .................................................................................... 71 Geraldine Fagan, Forum 18 News Service ............................ 86 Joseph K. Grieboski, Founder and President, Institute on Religion and Public Policy ................................................... 92 Ilya Katsnelson, Managing Director, VTMS in Copen- hagen, Denmark ................................................................... 98 Paul LeGendre, Director, Fighting Discrimination Pro- gram, Human Rights First .................................................. 104 (III) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:23 Sep 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0484 U:\WORK\062309.TXT KATIE IV Page Karinna Moskalenko, Director, International Protection Center ................................................................................... 110 Nina Ognianova, Europe and Central Asia Program Coor- dinator, Committee to Protect Journalists ........................ 115 Tim Osborne, Director, GML Ltd ........................................... 120 VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:23 Sep 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 0484 U:\WORK\062309.TXT KATIE THE MEDVEDEV THAW: IS IT REAL? WILL IT LAST? March 4, 2008 COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE WASHINGTON, DC The hearing was held at 10 a.m. in room SVC 203/202 Capitol Visitor Center, Washington, DC, Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Chair- man, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, pre- siding. Commissioners present: Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, Chairman, Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe; and Hon. Dar- rell E. Issa, Commissioner, Commission on Security and Coopera- tion in Europe. Witnesses present: Sergey Cherepanov, Russia Coordinator, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania; Musa Klebnikov, Executive Director, The Paul Klebnikov Fund; William Browder, CEO, Hermitage Capital Management; and Sarah E. Mendelson, Director, Human Rights and Security Initiative, and Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, CHAIRMAN, COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE Mr. CARDIN. Let me welcome everyone to today’s hearing for the Helsinki Commission. The hearing today will concentrate on Rus- sia. I think it’s a very timely hearing for the Commission consid- ering that President Obama will shortly be traveling to Moscow and that our Helsinki Commission will participate in the Par- liamentary Assembly in Vilnius next week. I think this hearing is particularly important and I want to thank all of the witnesses for making extraordinary efforts to be here. We’ve had some travel halfway around the world in order to be at this hearing today and one from London. We appreciate those efforts. I think it’s critically important for us to understand what is hap- pening in Russia. It’s evolving all the time—in the news today about—in Russia, what’s happening in that region. Our bilateral relationship in recent years has unfortunately been cool at best. Some of this is the result of the failed policies of the Bush adminis- tration, but the Russian government has regressed on reform. The rollback of Russia’s fledgling democracy, the erosion of the rule of law, the deadly attacks on independent journalists and the (1) VerDate 0ct 09 2002 10:23 Sep 18, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 U:\WORK\062309.TXT KATIE 2 recent war in Georgia are just a few of the many examples of hard- line policies emanating from the Kremlin. The new administration has been quite active in reaching out to Russia and there has already been a number of high-level meet- ings. I am hopeful that we are at the beginning of a new and fruit- ful partnership with Russia. Although our two great countries may not see eye to eye, being best friends may not be the measure of a successful relationship. There are many issues of mutual concern that we cannot afford to ignore, and restoring trust and mutual respect with Russia will allow us to pursue common security while fully upholding our OSCE commitments. Some in the human rights community here and in Russia are concerned that the reset in U.S.-Russia relations may lead to less attention being paid to traditional concerns such as religious free- dom, media freedom and the rule of law. Today’s hearing is in- tended to send the message that the laudable goals of improving relations with Russia and taking Russia’s compliance with human rights commitments seriously need not be mutually exclusive. When General Secretary Brezhnev signed the Helsinki Final Acts or the Helsinki Accords on August 1st, 1975 on behalf of the USSR, Soviet officials believed that they had gained an important foreign policy victory. Indeed, there were some provisions the So- viet diplomats had sought during negotiations with the 35 nations that they were successful in accomplishing. However, the West, for its part, had insisted on certain provi- sions in the area of human rights and humanitarian affairs, includ- ing the right of citizens to know their rights and to act upon them. In this context it is worth reminding everyone that since the 1991 Moscow Declaration, raising human rights concerns in the OSCE context is the legitimate prerogative of participating states and cannot be construed as interference in another country’s inter- nal affairs as the OSCE states have recognized the right and obli- gation to monitor and comment on the fulfillment of human rights commitments in any OSCE country. It’s our responsibility. We have the perfect right to raise viola- tions of OSCE commitments in any of the OSCE countries. As Chairman of this Commission I take seriously my responsibility im- plementation of the Helsinki Final Act and subsequent agreements throughout the expansive OSCE region, including in my own coun- try, and I have done that. Governments, including parliamentarians, have an important role to play in candidly raising human rights concerns and cases as part of their ongoing engagement. As the late Soviet human rights advocate Andrei Sakharov once observed, ‘‘The whole point of the Helsinki Accords is the mutual monitoring, not mutual eva- sion, of difficult problems.’’
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