EMBOFFS DISCUSS COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION,

C O N F I D E N T I A L PANAMA 001046 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR WHA/CEN, WHA/MEX, EUR/RUS, AND INR/B E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2009 TAGS: PREL ETRD EWWT PINR PM POL CHIEF SUBJECT: EMBOFFS DISCUSS COUNTER-TERRORISM COOPERATION, COMMERCIAL TIES, REGIONAL PRESSURE REF: A. STATE 71826 ¶B. PANAMA 0274 Classified By: DCM Christopher J. McMullen for reason 1.4 (b) -------------- Building Bridges -------------- ¶1. (C) On April 22, PolOffs met with Russian Embassy Counselor (DCM) Oleg Ostrovskiy and First Secretary Evgeny Lebedev for our first tete-a-tete. Both GOR diplomats are Americas specialists and have already served in Panama for a year or more. Noting the good relationship between our countries' heads of state and foreign ministries (Ref A) and our mutual interest in the war against global terrorism, he thanked PolOffs for reaching out to them regarding Ref A. He offered to assist Embassy with the GOP in any counter-terrorism (CT) component that we may identify. He commented on the bilateral information-sharing agreement between the GOR's Finance and Monetary Commission and the GOP's Financial Analysis Unit (UAF) to fight money laundering. (Comment: We believe that agreement may be Russia's principal bilateral link with the GOP. End Comment.) At a February 2 mini-CT Action Group (CTAG) meeting, Ostrovskiy requested that the Embassy ask the GOP to brief the group on terrorist threats to Panamanian infrastructure. (See Ref B.) -------------- Making(-up) missions -------------- ¶2. (C) Ostrovskiy admitted that the Russian Embassy has weak ties with the GOP, saying that Russia-Panama relations still were "under development". The embassy is relatively small with only 15 personnel, all Russian nationals, including eight diplomats. In the region, the GOR has embassies in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and is establishing an embassy in Guatemala, supposedly because of economic interests. Ostrovskiy claimed no regional representational responsibilities, though Lebedev stated that he and Ostrovskiy travel to Mexico and Cuba on a regular basis. When pressed, Ostrovskiy named growing export and investment opportunities and natural-disaster response assistance as Russian-Panamanian agenda items. However, their Embassy's Economic Counselor position was just eliminated, and Ostrovskiy could not elaborate on any recent aid projects. -------------- New Embassy Site -------------- ¶3. Ostrovskiy confirmed Russia's plans to build a new embassy on a parcel at former Fort Albrook. (Comment: Contrary to local newspaper reports, it would not be adjacent to our own new embassy compound in Clayton.) Also, he stated that the GOR has yet to allocate funds for construction, though a lease agreement on the land has been finalized. Groundbreaking for the new embassy compound was held November 1, 2003, according to press reports, and would comprise 1.5 hectares (3.6 acres). -------------- Comment -------------- ¶4. (C) We pursued this meeting with the Russians because of comments made earlier to Ambassador Watt by former Russian ambassador Nikolay Vladimir, to the effect that Russia has plans to establish a Panama hub for its regional operations to replace Mexico, and would scale down its commercial and other activities in Mexico as it moves officers to Panama. After speaking with Ostrovskiy, it does not appear that changes in Russia's regional focus are imminent. WATT