RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS: TIME TO SOLVE N-K

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 002686 SIPDIS FOR EUR/SNEC AND EUR/RUS FROM AMBASSADOR EVANS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2014 TAGS: PGOV PREL AM IZ RS SUBJECT: RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS: TIME TO SOLVE N-K TOGETHER REF: A. MOSCOW 15265 ¶B. MOSCOW 15312 Classified By: Ambassador Evans, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) NEITHER OF THE TWO FINE MOSCOW CABLES UNDER REFERENCE MENTIONS NAGORNO-KARABAKH AS AN ISSUE IN THE CIS THAT MOSCOW AND WASHINGTON (AND PARIS) MIGHT RECOMMIT THEMSELVES TO SOLVING IN THE DISTURBING WAKE OF THE CRISIS IN RELATIONS OVER UKRAINE. IN A CHAT EARLIER TODAY, THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR AND I SIMULTANEOUSLY HIT ON THE IDEA THAT MOSCOW AND WASHINGTON NEEDED A SHARED SUCCESS IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, AND THAT,IN VIEW OF THE ENCOURAGING NEWS THAT THE PRAGUE TALKS HAD BEEN SALVAGED, THIS MIGHT BE AN IDEA WHOSE TIME HAD COME. I LEAVE IT TO AMBASSADOR MANN AND HIS COLLEAGUES TO SAY WHETHER THEY STILL "REFUSE TO BE OPTIMISTIC," BUT VIEWED FROM MY VANTAGE POINT HERE IN LEFT KAVKAZ, AND AFTER CONVERSATIONS WITH OSCE SPECIAL REP KASPRZYK AS WELL AS FM OSKANIAN FOLLOWING THE SOFIA AND BRUSSELS MEETINGS, I HAVE A SENSE THAT THERE MAY INDEED FINALLY BE SOME LIGHT AT THE END OF THIS LONG TUNNEL. THE CO-CHAIRS ARE REPORTED TO HAVE WORKED VERY WELL TOGETHER OVER THE LAST TWO WEEKS DESPITE THE BACKGROUND NOISE IN UKRAINE. N-K, THOUGH EXTREMELY DIFFICULT AND COMPLEX, IS ONE ISSUE ON WHICH RUSSIAN AND AMERICAN VIEWS ARE NOT IN SERIOUS CONFLICT, WHICH CANNOT BE SAID SO EASILY OF THE GEORGIAN CONFLICTS OR MOLDOVA/TRANSNISTRIA. OBVIOUSLY MUCH DEPENDS ON THE PARTIES THEMSELVES, BUT HAVING KEPT THE NEGOTIATING PROCESS ALIVE AGAINST SOME FORMIDABLE ODDS, PERHAPS THEY CAN NOW BE INDUCED TO MAINTAIN THE POSITIVE MOMENTUM THAT WE SENSE JUST GETTING UNDERWAY. EVANS