For immediate release: October 16, 2009
Contact: Nickolai Butkevich at 202-641-7420 or nbutkevich@ucsj.com
UCSJ National Director, Micah H. Naftalin, issued the following statement on October 16, 2009, in Washington, concerning Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Moscow visit:
Those of us who have been hoping that the Obama Administration would elevate concerns for Russia’s abysmal human rights performance in its public discussion of U.S. foreign policy objectives have reason to cheer the performance of Administration high officials meeting in Moscow this week. This is an important, granted separate, matter distinguishable from the progress that some may find missing vis a vis our hopes for Russia’s firmness concerning sanctioning Iran concerning its nuclear arms ambitions. Clearly, human rights is also a vital piece of the “reset” agenda.
Beyond her official meetings with President Medvedev, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pointedly took time out to meet with a group of Russia’s most distinguished and courageous human rights leaders and independent and endangered journalists at our Ambassador’s residence to reassure them that while we seek improved cooperation on key economic, environmental and nuclear security imperatives, the U.S. can and must nonetheless continue to encourage human rights and democratic values. In media interviews and subsequent conversations with UCSJ, these leaders felt reassured that rumors that Washington is “toning down” its commitment to human rights reform in order to pursue a more constructive agenda with Russia are false.
The Obama Administration reinforced this message in a blitz of public appearances on the day after Secretary Clinton’s private government and NGO meetings. Speaking to 2,000 students of the prestigious Moscow State University and in a 20-minute interview on Ekho Moskvy radio, Secretary Clinton demanded rule of law reforms and that the Kremlin take effective action to stem the impunity of criminal attacks on human rights activists and journalists. It is notable too that Clinton distinguished the human rights concerns from the political opposition, with whom she did not meet.
At the same time, the president’s chief Russia official in the National Security Council, Michael McFaul, on the same day, spoke with the Russian news service Interfax, calling “democracy and human rights … the central theme…” of Obama’s presidency,” albeit without lecturing and finger wagging. Importantly, McFaul assured that the U.S. “absolutely… keep supporting Russian civil society, including financially, noting that the current budget has remained equal to last year’s.” Here UCSJ demurs as it is clear that the USAID budget for supporting the work of human rights and religious freedom NGOs in Russia and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union is woefully inadequate.
These comments came in the context of questions about the role of the new joint US-Russia working group on civil society, announced this summer at the summit in Moscow. We join our colleagues in the beleaguered Russian human rights community in praising the administration’s stated goal to prioritize human rights and other rule of law goals in our relationship with Russia.
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