C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 001107

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR EUR/RPM AND EUR/NCE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2014
TAGS: PREL PINR SI OSCE RU
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: FOMIN RUPEL AND USOSCE AMB MINIKES
DISCUSS OSCE PRIORITIES


Classified By: Chief of Mission Thomas B. Robertson for reasons 1.4(b)
and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a 10 December meeting with COM and
USOSCE Ambassador Stephan Minikes, FoMin Rupel set out
Slovenian priorities for its OSCE CiO year, indicating a
special interest in dealing with issues in Southeastern
Europe. Discussion focused on Ukraine and on the need to
engage the Russians in order to avoid a train wreck within
the OSCE on its core values and activities. Minikes urged
Rupel to play a strong leadership role as CiO. He suggested
active early engagement on the Eminent Persons initiative and
later told MFA OSCE Task Force Head Aleksander Gerzina that
the U.S. would inform the Slovenes soon of possible U.S.
candidates. Minikes told Rupel the U.S. would not support
the candidacy of either the Swiss or Albanian SecGen
candidates if the French could not get consensus on their
candidate, whom the U.S. supports. Gerzina later replied
that Slovenia would begin a new search for a SecGen in
January if no resolution was found in the next few weeks.
Rupel made a plug for an early visit by PM Janez Jansa to
Washington, in addition to a visit Rupel would like to make
by February to see the Secretary. On scales of contribution,
Minikes told Rupel the Russian proposal was unacceptable,
telling Gerzina later that the U.S. could live with Canadian
or Bulgarian proposals. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On 10 December, COM and USOSCE Ambassador Stephan
Minikes met with Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel to discuss
the OSCE Ministerial in Sofia and Slovenia's priorities for
its OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office (CiO) in 2005. Rupel was
accompanied by MFA OSCE Task Force Director Aleksander
Gerzina, Task Force Members Simona Leskovar and Rok Srakar,
Rupel's Chef de Cabinet Matej Marn and staffer Masa Siftar.
COM and Minikes were accompanied by EUR/RPM OSCE Coordinator
Greta Holtz and Pol-Miloff. Originally scheduled as a 20
minute courtesy call, the meeting lasted approximately 75
minutes as Rupel and Minikes engaged in a lively exchange of
views. Minikes later met for a two-hour-plus working lunch
with Ge

rzina and eight members of the MFA OSCE Task Force.
Holtz, Pol/Econ Chief and Pol-Miloff accompanied Minikes to
the working lunch.

RUPEL: "PREPARED TO LEAD WITH UTMOST SERIOUSNESS"
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Stressing the "utmost seriousness" with which
Slovenia intends to lead the OSCE, Rupel described "four
clusters of problems" the Slovenes saw as priorities:
Central Asia, the Caucasus, Eastern Europe and Southeastern
Europe (SEE). Rupel said Slovenia was "most interested in
dealing with problems in the vicinity," i.e. SEE, in
particular Kosovo. Nonetheless, he noted that other
high-profile issues such as Ukraine would present challenges
as well.


4. (C) Rupel contrasted the relative success at NATO on
issues including communique language on Ukraine with the
"unfortunate confrontation" with the Russians at the OSCE
Ministerial on many issues, especially Ukraine. Quoting
Russian FoMin Lavrov as saying, "at NATO we can reach
compromise and consensus, but at OSCE we cannot," Rupel
pledged to try to correct the problem. He said Russian
Deputy FoMin Chizhov would visit Ljubljana in early January,
and Rupel will travel to Moscow in February. Clearly stating
that the problems in Sofia were "Russia's fault," Rupel
characterized relations with the Russians as "good compared
to the past." He said he intended to "work with them as much
as possible without sacrificing the principles of the OSCE,
NATO and the EU." Rupel concluded that he wished to improve
the way decisions were reached within the OSCE and break a
"bad tradition" of starting negotiations too late for the
next OSCE ministerial declaration.

MINIKES: ENGAGING THE RUSSIANS
--------------


5. (C) Minikes agreed with Rupel's approach and told Rupel
that the NATO declaration was a "piece of cake" compared to
what the OSCE had tried to accomplish in Sofia. Minikes
offered Rupel the full support of the U.S., saying "almost
everyone would like you to succeed, but their (the Russians')
definition of success may be different than ours." Rupel
replied, "they've come a long way," prompting Minikes to
remind him to "look at what they do and not at what they
say." Minikes told Rupel he was pleased with Rupel's


emphasis on "starting early" and keeping the end goal in
sight.

ASSESSING THE RUSSIANS
--------------


6. (C) Rupel characterized his interactions with the Russian
delegation at Sofia. Despite a history of earlier
interactions with former FoMin Ivanov, whom he called "more
accessible and less dogmatic," Rupel said that "with Lavrov
(in Sofia) it was all formulae." Rupel had "some
reservations" about Lavrov. He expressed frustration with
Chizhov, who had shown "a lot of bonhomie" when working for
Ivanov but who had become more like Lavrov, "just a little
worse" in Sofia. Minikes said that identifying an
interlocutor among the Russians was problematic, given that
Borodavkin was "on a short leash" and Azimov had "little
imagination." Nonetheless, he praised Alexander Grushko as
being very capable, to which Rupel agreed.

THE TOLERANCE AGENDA/EMINENT PERSONS
--------------


7. (C) Minikes complimented Rupel's remarks at the Sofia
ministerial, in particular on the need for OSCE to engage not
just "east of Vienna." Rupel replied that this remark was a
concession to the CIS and a reaction to the Astana statement.
Minikes also urged Rupel to focus on the Eminent Persons
initiative. At the working lunch, Minikes told Gerzina the
U.S. would explore U.S. candidates for the panel and forward
names to Rupel. He urged Slovenia to be aggressive in its
pursuit of a qualified panel, stressing that simply sending
out a letter to OSCE Ambassadors would not suffice. The
panel should focus not on how the OSCE should do its job,
Minikes further stressed, but where and what the OSCE's job
should be. OSCE needed to find its "copetitive advantage,"
and the panel could help dothis.

OSCE: THE "HALFWAY HOUSE" ON THE ROAD TO DMOCRACY
-------------- --------------


8. (C) Ruminating on the role of theOSCE in contrast o
NATO and the EU, Rupel descrbed the OSCE as the "halfway
house" for countrie making the transition to western-style
democracis. The OSCE must try to "seduce these countries"
without shared NATO and EU values into democracy,he said.
Rupel invoked his background as a socioogist as he described
the importance of promoting universal or European standards
over local standards on human rights and democratization. He
stressed that local standards cannot be allowed to prevail
"when human rights and human lives are in question." Minikes
urged Rupel to engage in such a conversation with Lavrov;
however, Rupel replied, "he's tougher than that." Minikes
then drove home the importance of engaging the Russians early
and often.

DEEPENING THE BILATERAL RELATIONSHIP: JANSA TO WASHINGTON?
-------------- --------------


9. (C) In response to Minikes's suggestion that Rupel visit
the Secretary no later than February, Rupel said he would be
very eager to pay such a visit, but his priority was to
arrange for PM Jansa to visit Washington. Rupel said the GoS
wants to "re-establish the good relations... the deeply
friendly relations" that it had with Washington in the past.
Rupel said relations with the U.S. had "not been spoiled, but
dented" in the last couple years.

SECRETARY GENERAL: STARTING THE SEARCH ANEW?

SIPDIS
--------------


10. (C) Minikes told Rupel that the U.S. would not support
the nomination of Stoudemann for OSCE SecGen, saying "we are
solidly behind de Brichambaud." Rupel asked if the U.S.
position was negotiable, and Minikes answered, "No." Minikes
said that, at this point, Chirac would need to call Putin if
the nomination was to be pushed forward. Rupel noted that
Lavrov had said Russia would not support an EU candidate for
SecGen. Minikes countered that a Chirac-Putin phone call
could "go a long way." Later at the working lunch, Gerzina
told Minikes that Slovenia would be prepared to start a new
search for a SecGen soon after 01 January if there was no
compromise in the next few weeks. Gerzina said that support
for the Albanian candidate was growing within SEE but that
Chizhov had told him the Russians considered Stoudemann to be
the best choice. Minikes urged the Slovenes to stay in close


touch with the French Ambassador to the OSCE, saying "give
this (the French candidate) a chance."

SCALES OF CONTRIBUTION
--------------


11. (C) Rupel straightforwardly asked Minikes, "what should
we do about (scales of contribution)?" Minikes called the
Russian solution "patently ridiculous" and said it would skew
the political dynamics of the OSCE to have the U.S. or any
one country contributing such a high percentage of the
budget. Later at the working lunch, Minikes told
participants that the U.S. could live with either a recent
Canadian proposal or either of the two Bulgarian proposals,
provided there was no "linkage" by the Russians on other
issues. When Gerzina said linkage seemed to be on the
Russian agenda, Minikes urged the GoS to prevail upon its
colleagues within the EU to help "surround Russia" by upping
their contributions slightly.

MINIKES: THE NEED FOR SLOVENIAN LEADERSHIP
--------------


12. (C) Minikes concluded the meeting by urging Rupel to
exercise strong leadership in his role as OSCE Chairman. He
suggested arranging for an early visit to Moldova and
Georgia, along with the assignment of a special
representative to handle the frozen conflicts in the
Caucasus. Suggesting the importance to Rupel of doing
"important things," Minikes said the OSCE role in Afghanistan
was important, the OSCE's current role in Ukraine is
important and that a role for the OSCE in Iraq and Palestine
will be important, as well. Rupel said that Iraq was "not in
the center" of Slovenia's agenda for the OSCE, but that
Palestine was a necessary part of OSCE's engagement. When
Minikes pointed out that the Iraqi Central Election
Commission had invited the OSCE to contribute by sending
election monitors, Rupel said he had received conflicting
information about the OSCE in Iraq from the UN. Minikes
handed over a copy of the invitation letter from the Iraqi
Election Commission and urged engagement.

WORKING LUNCH: CONTINUED EMPHASIS ON ENGAGING RUSSIA
-------------- --------------


13. (C) Engagement with Russia remained the central theme at
the working lunch with nine of the MFA's twelve OSCE Task
Force members. Gerzina stressed that Slovenia is "talking to
Russia all the time in a permanent dialogue." He agreed with
Minikes that Russia should not be allowed to go "forum
shopping" among the OSCE, NATO and the EU. Following his
earlier meeting, Minikes said Rupel is "clearly an
intelligent man with ideas" and underscored the USG's pledge
to "work hard to make sure (Slovenia) is never surprised"
during its OSCE Chairmanship. Minikes concluded the meeting
by touching in brief detail on the range of USG positions on
virtually all open OSCE issues. The OSCE Task Force members
were very appreciative of his time and clearly welcomed his
input.

COMMENT
--------------


14. (C) Rupel was very engaged and well briefed in his
meeting with Minikes, which lasted nearly an hour longer than
the scheduled 20 minutes. During the meeting Rupel clearly
demonstrated his willingness to seek out and listen to U.S.
advice on matters of importance within the OSCE. This stance
is yet another example of the new Jansa-led GoS desire to
"deepen" relations with the U.S., a phrase that is quickly
becoming the standard opening line as COM calls on the newly
confirmed cabinet ministers. While Rupel and Gerzina
professed to agree with Minikes's views on engaging the
Russians, we think that hearing the message directly from
Amb. Minikes in the lead up to the Slovenian Chairmanship
will help buttress the Slovenes' resolve. Rupel will try to
deal with the Russians diplomatically. His comments to COM
and Minikes show that he knows what kind of leadership will
be required, though, for the Slovenes to make the most of
what may be a contentious year within the OSCE. He and his
team also made it clear that the support of the U.S. within
the OSCE will be extremely important to the GoS as CiO. END
COMMENT


15. (U) EUR/RPM OSCE Coordinator Greta Holtz cleared this
cable. Amb. Minikes did not have an opportunity to clear


this cable before his departure from Ljubljana.
ROBERTSON


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