EU WELCOMES MOLDOVA CONSULTATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRUSSELS 001622 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/14/2014 TAGS: PREL PBTS MD OSCE USEU BRUSSELS SUBJECT: EU WELCOMES MOLDOVA CONSULTATIONS REF: STATE 82674 Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Kyle Scott. Reason: 1.5 (B )(D) ¶1. (C) Mission raised reftel proposal for five-party expert (Ambassadorial) level talks on Moldova April 14 with Christoph Heusgen, head of the Policy Unit. His experts on Moldova were not available, but Heusgen promised to get back to us soon with a more formal reply. He said he was confident the EU would support the proposed meeting in early May. Heusgen suggested it would be important to include a representative from the Kremlin in the talks, since he was not sure the Russian MFA's officials could speak authoritatively. Heusgen also questioned if the Russians were sincere about seeking progress, suggesting they might only hope to gain tactical advantage prior to CFE meetings on Istanbul commitments. At Heusgen's request, we also shared US proposal with Irish Presidency. ¶2. (C) On April 15 we followed up with Carl Hartzell, who told us the EU welcomed the proposal, and would participate in an early May meeting (EU sensibilities would likely require participation of two officials: the Irish Presidency and a Council expert). Hartzell had the impression that Novozhilov hoped expert-level meetings could be used to drag things out or perhaps lead to some sort of blessing of Russian "peace-keeping" activities. He suggested it might be useful to hold some sort of US-EU consultations on the way forward even prior to five-party talks in early May. Schnabel