Nonprofit PR centre "Citizen" - PRCC Phone/fax: +7 (095) 253-8042 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.good.cnt.ru ))))))))))))))))PRCC-info((((((((((((((((( Urgent! Action! Dear colleagues! We ask you to participate in the campaign in defense of a Russian scientist, Igor Sutyagin. Russia's secret police (FSB) charges him with espionage. Igor wrote a book about nuclear disarmament, and the FSB considers him having published 'secret information'. In actual fact Igor had no access to any secret information at all, and the leaders of the Russian Institute for the USA and Canadian Studies are clearly confirming that. It looks like the Russian security agencies have decided to put an end to the activities of Western ecologists, foreign researchers and Russian scientists and activists of environmentalist NGOs who cooperate with foreign colleagues in Russia once and for all. The FSB has already taken two serious attempts in this field lately: they tried to proclaim as spies: - Alexander Nikitin, retired naval officer, who cooperated with Norwegian ecologist NGO Bellona; - Grigory Pasko, military journalist, naval officer, who cooperated with Japanese journalists and ecologist organizations. These two men have spent long months in the special prisons of Russia's security agencies. Only thanks to a broad international public campaign in their defense it was possible to see Nikitin and Pasko free. Now it looks like the Russian security agencies want to have their revenge by the case of scientist Igor Sutyagin. Igor is now in a special prison of Russian security agencies in Moscow Region, Russia, in very hard conditions. We appeal you to pass information about Igor Sutyagin's case to your countries' independent mass-media, active human rights organizations, to the deputies of your parliaments. If you find it appropriate, please send an e-mail or a fax message addressed to Mr. Nikolay Platonovich Patrushev, Director, Federal Security Bureau (FSB), asking him to release Igor Sutyagin from prison until the trial begins. E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Fax: (+7-095) 975-24-70 Below we attach more details on Igor Sutyagin's case. Unfortunately we're note with great anxiety that every day more and more facts appear to evidence the phasedown of the democratization process in Russia. If the world democracies, the public in the industrialized countries would now remain indifferent to the resurrection of authoritarian regime in Russia, the consequences for the whole world would be catastrophic, as it already happened in the history of the 20th century. Please excuse us for writing such a long letter Hoping for your help, Andrey Blinushov, member of Governing Body of the International Memorial human rights society, editor-in- chief of Russian historical and human rights magazine Karta; Julia Sereda, member of Governing Body of the Interregional Human Rights Network Group, deputy chair of Ryazan Helsinki Group. Ryazan, Russia. Translated by Oleg V. Martynov. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Igor Sutyagin was taken into custody. Why? What episodes could be laid to charge? FSB has started a political campaign While in prison, the convict suffers from violation of the Law on Custody Contact info A resident of Obninsk Igor Sutyagin, born in 1965, was taken into custody on October 27, 1999 by the FSB of the Kaluga Region. Being accused of high treason (Article 275 of the Criminal Code of RF), Igor might be sentenced from 12 to 20 years of imprisonment. Six months of confinement were extended to another three months on the grounds the inquiry had not been completed. Therefore, we decided to attract public attention and to seek: 1. a change of restraint for Igor; 2. a completion of inquiry in the shortest possible time; 3. an open lawsuit. About Igor Sutyagin - A former graduate of physical faculty in Moscow State University, he joined the Institute of the USA and Canada and obtained Ph.D. in History. Further promoted to the position of a senior researcher and assigned the Head of Section in the Department of military and political research, the author of several publications in Russian and foreign magazines. What episodes could be laid to charge? 1. The exchange of information with a US citizen Joshua Handler to assist in his work for Ph.D. on the problem of strategic nuclear weapons. Joshua Handler is a post-graduate in the University of Princeton. He was in Russia at the invitation of the Institute of the US and Canada in the frameworks of academic exchange. Mr. Handler is a reputable scientist. As an expert in arms control, he has well-established relations with the Russian academic circles. Despite FSB statements, he has never served in any federal institutions or US intelligence agencies. FSB reported on the military information found during the search of Mr. Handler's apartment. However, no claim has been made against him up till now. Mr. Handler has close contacts with the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), which has had basic orientation towards strengthening of the Soviet- and later Russian-American relations and scientific cooperation since the time of Gorbachev. . In the eighties, in particular, it was FAS that united the efforts of the American and Western scientists in the struggle against the "star wars" program (SDI initiative). It was FAS that advocated and advocates an active (first of all, nuclear) arms cut and elimination. The Federation fully supports the beginning of SNW-3 negotiations and preservation of the Anti-Missile Defense Treaty of 1972. The Federation has the world recognition and well-established ties with the Russian Academy of Sciences. 2. Review and transfer of information to the foreign analytical agency during business trips abroad. FSB says this is the classified information about the design of new generation submarines. Igor, however, has never had access to classified information and never been a bearer of the state secrets. How could he have transferred official secrets whomever? Besides, the subject of talks with the firm representatives has never been identified beforehand, and usually touched on a wide range of problems, which included policy and economics alongside with the military issues. No printed matter has ever been presented. Where are the reasonable grounds to be put to charge? 3. Opinion poll among Russian experts on the problem of civil and martial relations and role of the army in the Russian society. The poll was a part of the program funded by the Canadian Ministry of Defense. However, the other two official participants of the program were the Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. State secrets have never been the aim of the poll, which is obvious judging by the results presented in open publications in the summer of 1999. 4. Publications on the problems of military security and arms control in Russia. These are some chapters from the book "Strategic Nuclear Arms in Russia" published in Moscow in 1998, which are probably meant first of all. But a copy of the manuscript had been submitted to the FSB agency several months before publication! Furthermore, only open sources of the former Soviet Union, Russia and foreign countries were used while working at this book and any other publications. FSB has either started a political campaign. In view of the aforementioned the question arises "What is a high treason based on, if no military information was found on the search and subsequent arrest of Igor Sutyagin, who has never been a bearer of the state secrets and had no access to any classified information?" The answer is evident. This criminal case is being framed with no grounds at all. FSB has either started a political campaign or wants to take revenge for the lost cases of Nikitin and Pasko. This idea occurs not quite of a sudden. When Igor was arrested, the FSB officers told his wife not to inform anyone, including Igor's parents, about apprehension. However, they themselves reported the case in a TV news program some days later. Is there any other interpretation of the event if it is not the desire of FSB to be the first with their point of view? While in prison, the convict suffers from violation of the Law on Custody. Six months of confinement were extended to another three months. The parents, wife, friends and colleagues seeking for a change of constraint for Igor are regularly refused. It turns out he is dangerous for the Russian society. While in prison, the convict suffers from violation of the Law on Custody: - the right for an eight-hour night sleep is not realized (28 people live in the room intended for 8 beds); - the convicts are not given proper bedding, dishes and flatware; - medical service is very poor: practically no necessary medicaments are available; - tuberculosis and scabies are raging in prison; - the right for correspondence is regularly injured (the addressee does not receive some part of the letters); - a visiting right is injured ( no permission to see the convict for the last four months). We are looking for assistance of the honest people, who are fighting for real justice and human rights in Russia. Internet: Web-site (English): http://www.chat.ru/~scotch13/eng.html (English): http://www.case52.org/ Web-site (Russian): http://www.hro.org/actions/sutyagin/index.htm (Russian): http://www.chat.ru/~scotch13/ (Russian): http://www.case52.org/rus/ Contact info phone 7+ (08439) 3-93-81 Vyacheslav A. Sutyagin (father) Svetlana Ye. Sutyagina (mother) phone 7+ (08439) 7-51-98 Irina P. Manannikova (wife) E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Stevenson Vice-President (Academic) and Provost York University 4700 Keele Street North York Ontario M3J1P3 Canada 10 May, 2000 Dear Sir, I wish to bring to your attention a situation that, in my view, requires an appropriate response from the international academic community. In October last year a colleague of mine, Igor Sutyagin, a researcher at the U.S. and Canada Institute in Moscow, was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). He has been in jail since then, although the FBS has not filed formal charges against him. It has been announced that the FSB is going to accuse Igor Sutyagin of treason. Among various projects Igor Sutyagin worked on was a survey of civil-military relations in Russia that he did in 1998-1999. As far as I understand, this work was done as part of a research project that is being administered by York University and Carleton University. I have learned that the FSB has been interrogating people who were interviewed by Igor Sutyagin as part of that survey. What I find very disturbing here is that the FSB has been telling those people that rather than being an academic study, which it certainly was, the survey was actually carried on the orders of the Canadian Department of National Defence with the implication that it somehow constituted espionage. The FSB seemed to have no regard for either the academic character of the survey nor the fact that the survey was part of an academic program. Regardless of whether the charges against Igor Sutyagin have any ground (which I believe they do not), I am convinced that the international academic community should not permit any security service to imply that a legitimate and open research project could be a cover for intelligence gathering. If you should need any further information to help guide your response to this situation, please feel free to contact me. Yours sincerely, Pavel Podvig Researcher, Center for Arms Control Studies MPTI, 9 Institutski Dolgoprudny, Russia 141700 Phone/Fax: +7 (095) 408-6381 E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - May 29, 2000 Dr. Sergei Rogov Director Institute of the USA and Canada Russian Academy of Sciences 121814 Moscow Khlebny per., 2/3 Fax No. 011-7095-200-1207 Dear Dr. Rogov, I want to ask for your assistance on a troubling matter. In doing so, I hope that I can presume on our past personal contact and on the long-standing partnership between our two institutions. Recently, I received a letter from Mr. Pavel Podvig, a researcher at the Centre for Arms Control Studies, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. Dr. Podvig has drawn my attention to the case of Dr. Igor Sutyagin, an ISCRAN researcher. It is my understanding that Dr. Sutyagin was arrested last fall by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on suspicion of treason and espionage. According to Mr. Podvig, among the arguments in support of the accusations against Dr. Sutyagin, the investigators have cited his participation in a Canadian research project implemented under the joint auspices of Carleton and York Universities. I am not familiar with the details of the Russian Government's case against Dr. Sutyagin and have no intention - nor, indeed, any right - to interfere with the course of the investigation. It is, however, my duty to address those aspects of the matter with which I happen to be familiar, which implicate York University, and which are of profound importance for me and many others in the Canadian academic community who believe that collaborative academic research with our Russian colleagues is of great value to both countries. Let me describe the Canadian project Dr. Sutyagin has taken part in. The project was conceived in the course of the implementation of the Democratic Civil-Military Relations Programme (DCMRP), launched in 1997 by the Canadian Department of Defence (DND) with the help of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. The goal of the Programme is to acquaint defence officials from post-communist countries with the Canadian experience of civil-military relations in a democracy. Each year since 1997, groups of those officials representing dozens of East European countries, including Russia, have made visits to Canada to spend several weeks attending lectures and visiting defence installations and academic research centers specializing in international and security problems. The DCMRP concept is evolving in light of the lessons being learned and the critical comments from participants. In particular, the DND decided in 1998 to commission an academic study of the problems of civil-military relations in Eastern Europe. The competitive bid for the study was won by a joint team of researchers from Carleton and York Universities, led by Prof. Harald von Riekhoff of Carleton. From the very beginning, both the government and the universities involved regarded this project as a completely open, legitimate academic endeavour. None of those involved saw anything illegal or morally wrong in the idea that a group of Canadian academics would explore problems of civil-military relations in post-communist societies. Indeed, in the years since the end of the Cold War, this problematique has been the subject of a number of joint studies by Western and East European academics - and this interest is fully justified, given the importance of these issues both for international peace and for successful development of democracy in Eastern Europe. The work on the study began in the fall of 1998. One of its elements involved conducting interviews with officials and academic experts in the countries studied. Two researchers were commissioned to conduct the interviews in Russia - Mr. David Betz, a Canadian Ph.D. candidate currently studying at the University of Glasgow, and Dr. Sutyagin. The interviews were focused on such issues as the role of civilian officials in the control and management of Russia's armed forces, relations-between the army and society and the role of the parliament, the media, and the academic community in the making of defence policies. As far as I know, at no point during the implementation of the project did any of the people involved, including the interviewees, question the legitimacy of the study or suspect any hidden motives behind it. Mr. Betz made a trip to Moscow in November 1998 and interviewed several officials of the Russian Ministry of Defence. In December 1998 - January 1999 Dr. Sutyagin interviewed about 20 people for the DCMRP project -mostly academic experts. The work he did was of the highest quality: he conducted his interviews in an earnest professional manner and contributed his own opinions on the subject matter. The work on the study was completed by April 1999. The 500-page report (listing Dr. Sutyagin among the co-authors) was then unveiled at a meeting at Carleton University in Ottawa, where Prof. von Riekhoff and two other project researchers shared their findings with diplomats from the countries studied, including Russia. Praeger Publishers expressed an interest in publishing the Study, and a contract was signed to the effect in the summer of 1999. The 2-volume book is scheduled to come out later this year. Having reviewed the history of the project and Dr. Sutyagin's role in it, I cannot believe that anyone, especially law enforcement officials, might consider such work as espionage or treason. I deeply regret the fact that of the 12 countries studied in this project, Russia is the only one where some officials seem to have found a Canadian study of civil-military relations to be a threat to national security. In all the others, project researchers received full cooperation and support from governmental agencies, which regarded this Canadian endeavour as a welcome and valuable form of assistance to the ongoing reform efforts in those countries. Obviously, the controversy that has arisen with regard to Dr. Sutyagin's work for a Canadian research project introduces a note of apprehension and distrust into the sphere of Canadian-Russian scientific cooperation. Canadian (and, possibly, other Western) researchers engaged in or considering collaborative work with Russian colleagues will have to ask themselves whether such work will not create unacceptable risks for their Russian counterparts. I would like to hope that the Sutyagin controversy reflects someone's gross error of judgement, rather than a new approach of the Russian Government to the established practice of international academic cooperation. I would greatly appreciate it if you could clarify the circumstances of this matter for me and my colleagues. Sincerely yours, Michael Stevenson Vice President (Academic Affairs) and Provost York University Attachment: Mr. Podvig' s letter of May 10, 2000 CC: Mr. Pavel Podvig, Researcher, Center for Arms Control Studies, MPTI, Dolgoprudny, Russia Prof. Harald von Riekhoff, Department of Political Science, Carleton University Prof. David Dewitt, Director, Centre for International and Security Studies, York University Prof. Sergei Plekhanov, Department of Political Science, York University Ms. Ann Collins, Director, Eastern Europe Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Canada -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sincerely, ANDREI BLINUSHOV ------------------- Karta/Memorial/Human Rigts Network, Ryazan, Russia -------------------- Stop war in Russia: www.hro.org/war <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. 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