Keep Us Strong WikiLeaks logo

Currently released so far... 97115 / 251,287

Articles

Browse latest releases

Browse by creation date

Browse by origin

A B C D F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z

Browse by tag

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
ETRD EAGR ETTC EAID ECON EFIN ECIN EINV ELAB EAIR ENRG EPET EWWT ECPS EIND EMIN ELTN EC ETMIN EUC EZ ET ELECTIONS ENVR EU EUN EG EINT ER ECONOMICS ES EMS ENIV EEB EN ECE ECOSOC EK ENVIRONMENT EFIS EI EWT ENGRD ECPSN EXIM EIAD ERIN ECPC EDEV ENGY ECTRD EPA ESTH ECCT EINVECON ENGR ERTD EUR EAP EWWC ELTD EL EXIMOPIC EXTERNAL ETRDEC ESCAP ECO EGAD ELNT ECONOMIC ENV ETRN EIAR EUMEM ENRGPARMOTRASENVKGHGPGOVECONTSPLEAID EREL ECOM ECONETRDEAGRJA ETCC ETRG ECONOMY EMED ETR ENERG EITC EFINOECD EURM EENG ERA EXPORT ENRD ECONEINVETRDEFINELABETRDKTDBPGOVOPIC EGEN EBRD EVIN ETRAD ECOWAS EFTA ECONETRDBESPAR EGOVSY EPIN EID ECONENRG EDRC ESENV ETT EB ENER ELTNSNAR ECHEVARRIA ETRC EPIT EDUC ESA EFI ENRGY ESCI EE EAIDXMXAXBXFFR EETC ECIP EIAID EIVN EBEXP ESTN EING EGOV ETRA EPETEIND ELAN ETRDGK EAIDRW ETRDEINVECINPGOVCS EPEC ENVI ELN EAG EPCS EPRT EPTED ETRB EUM EAIDS EFIC EFINECONEAIDUNGAGM EAIDAR ESF EIDN ELAM EDU EV EAIDAF ECN EDA EXBS EINTECPS ENRGTRGYETRDBEXPBTIOSZ EPREL EAC EINVEFIN ETA EAGER EINDIR ECA ECLAC ELAP EITI EUCOM ECONEFINETRDPGOVEAGRPTERKTFNKCRMEAID EARG ELDIN EINVKSCA ENNP EFINECONCS EFINTS ECCP ETC EAIRASECCASCID EINN ETRP EAIDNI EFQ ECOQKPKO EGPHUM EBUD ECONEINVEFINPGOVIZ ENERGY ELB EINDETRD EMI ECONEFIN EIB EURN ETRDEINVTINTCS EIN EFIM ETIO ELAINE EMN EATO EWTR EIPR EINVETC ETTD ETDR EIQ ECONCS EPPD ENRGIZ EISL ESPINOSA ELEC EAIG ESLCO EUREM ENTG ERD EINVECONSENVCSJA EEPET EUNCH ECINECONCS ETRO ETRDECONWTOCS ECUN EFND EPECO EAIRECONRP ERGR ETRDPGOV ECPN ENRGMO EPWR EET EAIS EAGRE EDUARDO EAGRRP EAIDPHUMPRELUG EICN ECONQH EVN EGHG ELBR EINF EAIDHO EENV ETEX ERNG ED
KMDR KPAO KPKO KJUS KCRM KGHG KFRD KWMN KDEM KTFN KHIV KGIC KIDE KSCA KNNP KHUM KIPR KSUM KISL KIRF KCOR KRCM KPAL KWBG KN KS KOMC KSEP KFLU KPWR KTIA KSEO KMPI KHLS KICC KSTH KMCA KVPR KPRM KE KU KZ KFLO KSAF KTIP KTEX KBCT KOCI KOLY KOR KAWC KACT KUNR KTDB KSTC KLIG KSKN KNN KCFE KCIP KGHA KHDP KPOW KUNC KDRL KV KPREL KCRS KPOL KRVC KRIM KGIT KWIR KT KIRC KOMO KRFD KUWAIT KG KFIN KSCI KTFIN KFTN KGOV KPRV KSAC KGIV KCRIM KPIR KSOC KBIO KW KGLB KMWN KPO KFSC KSEAO KSTCPL KSI KPRP KREC KFPC KUNH KCSA KMRS KNDP KR KICCPUR KPPAO KCSY KTBT KCIS KNEP KFRDCVISCMGTCASCKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KNNB KGCC KINR KPOP KMFO KENV KNAR KVIR KDRG KDMR KFCE KNAO KDEN KGCN KICA KIMMITT KMCC KLFU KMSG KSEC KUM KCUL KMNP KSMT KCOM KOMCSG KSPR KPMI KRAD KIND KCRP KAUST KWAWC KTER KCHG KRDP KPAS KITA KTSC KPAOPREL KWGB KIRP KJUST KMIG KLAB KTFR KSEI KSTT KAPO KSTS KLSO KWNN KPOA KHSA KNPP KPAONZ KBTS KWWW KY KJRE KPAOKMDRKE KCRCM KSCS KWMNCI KESO KWUN KPLS KIIP KEDEM KPAOY KRIF KGICKS KREF KTRD KFRDSOCIRO KTAO KJU KWMNPHUMPRELKPAOZW KEN KO KNEI KEMR KKIV KEAI KWAC KRCIM KWCI KFIU KWIC KCORR KOMS KNNO KPAI KBWG KTTB KTBD KTIALG KILS KFEM KTDM KESS KNUC KPA KOMCCO KCEM KRCS KWBGSY KNPPIS KNNPMNUC KWN KERG KLTN KALM KCCP KSUMPHUM KREL KGH KLIP KTLA KAWK KWMM KVRP KVRC KAID KSLG KDEMK KX KIF KNPR KCFC KFTFN KTFM KPDD KCERS KMOC KDEMAF KMEPI KEMS KDRM KEPREL KBTR KEDU KNP KIRL KNNR KMPT KISLPINR KTPN KA KJUSTH KPIN KDEV KTDD KAKA KFRP KWNM KTSD KINL KJUSKUNR KWWMN KECF KWBC KPRO KVBL KOM KFRDKIRFCVISCMGTKOCIASECPHUMSMIGEG KEDM KFLD KLPM KRGY KNNF KICR KIFR KM KWMNCS KAWS KLAP KPAK KDDG KCGC KID KNSD KMPF KPFO KDP KCMR KRMS KNPT KNNNP KTIAPARM KDTB KNUP KPGOV KNAP KNNC KUK KSRE KREISLER KIVP KQ KTIAEUN KPALAOIS KRM KISLAO KWM KFLOA
PHUM PINR PTER PGOV PREL PREF PL PM PHSA PE PARM PINS PK PUNE PO PALESTINIAN PU PBTS PROP PTBS POL POLI PA PGOVZI POLMIL POLITICAL PARTIES POLM PD POLITICS POLICY PAS PMIL PINT PNAT PV PKO PPOL PERSONS PING PBIO PH PETR PARMS PRES PCON PETERS PRELBR PT PLAB PP PAK PDEM PKPA PSOCI PF PLO PTERM PJUS PSOE PELOSI PROPERTY PGOVPREL PARP PRL PNIR PHUMKPAL PG PREZ PGIC PBOV PAO PKK PROV PHSAK PHUMPREL PROTECTION PGOVBL PSI PRELPK PGOVENRG PUM PRELKPKO PATTY PSOC PRIVATIZATION PRELSP PGOVEAIDUKNOSWGMHUCANLLHFRSPITNZ PMIG PREC PAIGH PROG PSHA PARK PETER POG PHUS PPREL PS PTERPREL PRELPGOV POV PKPO PGOVECON POUS PGOVPRELPHUMPREFSMIGELABEAIDKCRMKWMN PWBG PMAR PREM PAR PNR PRELPGOVEAIDECONEINVBEXPSCULOIIPBTIO PARMIR PGOVGM PHUH PARTM PN PRE PTE PY POLUN PPEL PDOV PGOVSOCI PIRF PGOVPM PBST PRELEVU PGOR PBTSRU PRM PRELKPAOIZ PGVO PERL PGOC PAGR PMIN PHUMR PVIP PPD PGV PRAM PINL PKPAL PTERE PGOF PINO PHAS PODC PRHUM PHUMA PREO PPA PEPFAR PGO PRGOV PAC PRESL PORG PKFK PEPR PRELP PREFA PNG PGOVPHUMKPAO PRELECON PINOCHET PFOR PGOVLO PHUMBA PRELC PREK PHUME PHJM POLINT PGOVPZ PGOVKCRM PGOVE PHALANAGE PARTY PECON PEACE PROCESS PLN PRELSW PAHO PEDRO PRELA PASS PPAO PGPV PNUM PCUL PGGV PSA PGOVSMIGKCRMKWMNPHUMCVISKFRDCA PGIV PRFE POGOV PEL PBT PAMQ PINF PSEPC POSTS PHUMPGOV PVOV PHSAPREL PROLIFERATION PENA PRELTBIOBA PIN PRELL PGOVPTER PHAM PHYTRP PTEL PTERPGOV PHARM PROTESTS PRELAF PKBL PRELKPAO PKNP PARMP PHUML PFOV PERM PUOS PRELGOV PHUMPTER PARAGRAPH PERURENA PBTSEWWT PCI PETROL PINSO PINSCE PQL PEREZ PBS

Browse by classification

Community resources

courage is contagious

Viewing cable 07MOSCOW3971, RUSSIANS DEBATE ROLE OF THE CHURCH

If you are new to these pages, please read an introduction on the structure of a cable as well as how to discuss them with others. See also the FAQs

Understanding cables
Every cable message consists of three parts:
  • The top box shows each cables unique reference number, when and by whom it originally was sent, and what its initial classification was.
  • The middle box contains the header information that is associated with the cable. It includes information about the receiver(s) as well as a general subject.
  • The bottom box presents the body of the cable. The opening can contain a more specific subject, references to other cables (browse by origin to find them) or additional comment. This is followed by the main contents of the cable: a summary, a collection of specific topics and a comment section.
To understand the justification used for the classification of each cable, please use this WikiSource article as reference.

Discussing cables
If you find meaningful or important information in a cable, please link directly to its unique reference number. Linking to a specific paragraph in the body of a cable is also possible by copying the appropriate link (to be found at theparagraph symbol). Please mark messages for social networking services like Twitter with the hash tags #cablegate and a hash containing the reference ID e.g. #07MOSCOW3971.
Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07MOSCOW3971 2007-08-14 12:28 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Embassy Moscow
VZCZCXRO9673
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHPOD RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHMO #3971/01 2261228
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141228Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2903
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHLN/AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG 4384
RUEHVK/AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK 2339
RUEHYG/AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG 2635
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 003971 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KIRF PHUM SOCI RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIANS DEBATE ROLE OF THE CHURCH 
 
MOSCOW 00003971  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
------- 
Summary 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) The dog days of August have seen a protracted debate 
here about the proper role of the Russian Orthodox Church 
(ROC) in a country in which church and state are officially 
separated.  The debate was triggered by the near simultaneous 
expressions of unease by a member of the Public Chamber and a 
group of eminent scientists that included two Nobel 
laureates.  Both parties worried publicly about what they 
termed the "clericalization" of Russia by a resurgent church. 
Their public expressions of concern provoked a response from 
church representatives, and Patriarch Aleksey II himself. 
Underlying this ongoing debate are efforts to fill an 
ideological void left by the collapse of the Soviet Union, 
issues of class, and the search for a balance between the 
secular and the spiritual as a church long repressed begins 
to flex its muscles, in some instances with active support 
from some quarters in the government.  End summary. 
 
----------------------------- 
Intelligentsia Voices Concern 
----------------------------- 
 
2. (U) On July 23, Moscow newspapers published an open letter 
to President Putin from ten members of the Academy of 
Sciences, led by Nobel laureates Zhores Alferov and Vitaliy 
Ginzburg that protested the "clericalization" of Russia and 
the continued need for a separation of church and state. 
Among the sources of concern for the ten was a controversial 
course on the fundamentals of Orthodox Christianity being 
taught in schools in some regions of the country and the 
alleged "infiltration" of government institutions, including 
the army, by the ROC.  The academicians also objected to an 
effort by the ROC to include theology in the list of subjects 
accredited by the Ministry of Education's Higher 
Qualifications Board. 
 
3. (U) Just prior to the academicians' letter, prominent 
professor of architecture and Public Chamber member 
Vyacheslav Glazychev voiced similar concerns in the media 
about the "creeping clericalization" of Russia.  Prompting 
his comments, Glazychev subsequently told us, was a decision 
by a St. Petersburg court to accept for consideration a case 
contesting the teaching of Darwinism in schools and 
subsequent comments by Patriarch Aleksey that the teaching of 
Darwin was "unacceptable." 
 
-------------- 
The ROC Reacts 
-------------- 
 
4. (U) The ROC's reaction to the academicians' sallies was 
swift.  In their responses, which have filled the airwaves 
and the pages of all of the central newspapers over the last 
several weeks, some church representatives have attempted to 
couch the argument as one between atheists and believers. 
The ROC's upper echelons have more diplomatically and 
indirectly agreed with the scientists that church and state 
should be separate, but that there can be no separation from 
society, and since the church is an intrinsic part of 
society, it is in practice impossible to separate the ROC 
from the GOR in an overwhelmingly Russian Orthodox society. 
 
5. (U) Still other factions that link themselves with the ROC 
have been less restrained in their reaction to the 
intelligentsia's expressions of concern, with the very 
conservative "Peoples' Collective" requesting that the Moscow 
Prosecutor bring criminal charges against the scientists. 
Approximately 25 members of the "United Orthodox Youth 
Movement for Reviving Spirituality" briefly picketed the 
Public Chamber, and called on President Putin not to 
re-appoint Glazychev as one of its members. 
 
-------------------- 
Themes in the Debate 
-------------------- 
 
6. (SBU) Although not well elucidated by its participants, 
observers have noted many threads to the debate launched by 
the academicians: 
 
-- The collapse of the Soviet Union left behind it an 
ideological void that for the time being the church alone 
seems equipped to fill.  The Putin government's insistence 
that living better tomorrow than yesterday is the chief 
domestic attribute of the resurgent Russia state has left 
 
MOSCOW 00003971  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
many citizens cold, and the ROC has stepped in to provide a 
framework within which problems like interethnic conflict, 
alcoholism, and demographic decline can be grappled with. 
While critics like Glazychev have told us that they agree 
that there is a role for the church in addressing such 
problems, they object when the ROC ventures into what they 
see as bastions of secularism, like education. 
 
-- Even religious figures worry about the pride of place 
claimed by the ROC in today's Russia.  Pentecostal Bishop and 
Public Chamber member Sergey Ryakhovskiy was not surprised 
that concerns had been publicly voiced. Frustration with the 
ROC had been accumulating for some time, he told us, and with 
recent events a tipping point had been reached. Ryakhovskiy 
agreed with Glazychev that the ROC had a role in developing a 
moral framework, but Russia was multi-confessional, and 
Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and other Christian denominations 
could not be forgotten in the process. 
 
-- Some in the ROC have attempted to style the divide on this 
issue as one of class.  Moscow Patriarchy Department of 
External Relations Archpriest Chaplin has on two occasions in 
the media accused the scientists of "elitism" in their call 
for a secular society.  The "people" of Russia, Chaplin has 
said, "want something else." 
 
-- Still others have seen the debate as potentially key to 
restoring the correct balance between church and state. 
While Chaplin has elsewhere implicitly suggested that the ROC 
has overreached in its rush to recover after the Soviet 
period, he has described the aggressive resurgence as 
"understandable," and has pointed out that, even in the 
sensitive area of education, the ROC is a shadow of its 
pre-revolutionary self.  Before 1917, the ROC sponsored some 
35,000 Sunday schools compared to the handful operating 
today, he has noted. Ryakhovskiy has termed the debate a 
"punch in the eye" for the ROC which, he hopes, will cause it 
to tread more cautiously in the future. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
7. (SBU) Four years ago, President Putin called for dialogue 
on the role of the church in Russia's constitutionally 
secular society, and the President's call was echoed again 
this month by Human Rights Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin, who 
suggested that ROC representatives and the academicians meet 
in order to air their concerns.  Lukin's proposal was 
implemented after a fashion when the two sides debated the 
issue at an extended press conference in Moscow August 8. 
The media-studded forum, however, did little to encourage 
genuine discussion and it is likely that some time will have 
to pass before all points of view can be more dispassionately 
aired. 
RUSSELL