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