OSCE: U/S BURNS BILATERAL MEETING WITH CIO

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000882 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2015 TAGS: PREL MARR MOPS SI SUBJECT: OSCE: U/S BURNS BILATERAL MEETING WITH CIO DIMITRIJ RUPEL Classified By: COM Thomas B. Robertson reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (U) Summary. Meeting on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial, U/S Burns and Slovene Foreign Minister and Chairman in Office of the OSCE Dimitrij Rupel discussed Slovenia's cooperation in and contribution to international peacekeeping missions; the Government of Slovenia's (GOS) recent political commitment to send demining trainers to Iraq under the auspices of NATO; upcoming status talks on Kosovo and the importance of keeping Belgrade engaged; and pursuing a robust democracy agenda with Cuba, Belarus, and other countries in the New European Neighborhood. The second half of the meeting focused on CiO Rupel's final stab at getting all 55 members of the OSCE to agree on language for a Ministerial Declaration. Burns responded positively but firmly that absent language on Istanbul Commitments and a call for Russian withdrawal of troops from Moldova, the U.S. would be unable to sign a Ministerial Declaration. Burns and Rupel agreed to engage in further negotiations on this subject with the OSCE Troika, U.K., Germany, France, and Russia. End Summary. 2.(U) Meeting participants were: U/S Nicholas Burns Ambassador Thomas B. Robertson Ambassador Julie Finley (OSCE) EUR/RPM Director James Warlick P Special Assistant David Bame Pol/Econ Chief Colleen Hyland (notetaker) FM Dimitrij Rupel Ambassador Boris Frlec State Under Secretary Vojeslav Suc Special Assistant Ales Balut (notetaker) ¶3. (SBU) U/S Burns and FM Rupel briefly discussed Slovenia's contributions to international missions. Rupel was concerned that in sheer numbers, Slovenia's contribution may not appear significant, but, in fact, constituted a serious commitment. Slovenia remained focused on the Balkans and would continue to increase troop levels in the future, including with a motorized battalion in Kosovo in 2007. Rupel also confirmed that the GOS has made the political decision to send demining trainers to Iraq with the NATO training mission (NTM-I). U/S Burns welcomed this news agreeing Slovenia's contributions were significant and that sending demining trainers to Iraq will offer important support to our efforts there. Burns and Rupel discussed the changing role of NATO in the world, agreeing that its future would include greater focus on 
global partnerships with non-NATO countries. 4.(C) Turning to Kosovo, a subject of tremendous interest to Slovenia, Burns said that upcoming status talks will require a united alliance to get the message to the Kosovar Albanians that they must protect minority rights, and work seriously on standards. Burns and Rupel agreed on the need to press the Serbs to engage and shared an assessment that the next elections in Serbia could produce a government that would sour the political dialogue. Rupel pressed on the need to offer the Serbs "compensation," suggesting a fast track to the EU would help mitigate the expected loss of Kosovo and a possible loss of Montenegro. Burns reiterated USG policy does not accept partition or border changes, and that all parties must be fully engaged in finding the solution. Serbs must also address war crimes and particularly the capture of Ratko Mladic. Bringing Mladic to The Hague will open doors for Serbia. Burns underscored that this is not only U.S. policy but NATO policy. ¶5. (SBU) Burns raised the importance of working together to promote democracy and human rights in places such as Cuba and Belarus stating specifically that there should be consequences for Belarussian actions and the need to remain focused on democracy in our dealings with Minsk. Rupel agreed that it was important to continue working together, particularly at the UN, on promoting human rights issues in Cuba. He said, too, that Slovenia is completely on board with EU policy towards Belarus and agreed that a coordinated strategy between the U.S. and EU made sense. Rupel also welcomed Burns' comments on Secretary Rice's recent statement on alleged U.S. detention or transfer of terrorist subjects. ¶6. (C) In a final bid to hammer out a Ministerial Declaration, Rupel suggested a meeting between the OSCE Troika (Bulgaria, Slovenia, Belgium) the U.S., Germany, France, U.K. and Russia. Rupel said that Russian FM Lavrov would agree to Porto language but he (Rupel) wanted to find a compromise that went beyond that. Before agreeing to such a meeting, Burns suggested that since all except the Russians were NATO members, it was imperative that those members be united on language before going into a meeting with the Russians, and that language should be the same as what would be used in Brussels for the NAC Communique. It would be a mistake to allow Russia to play one NATO ally off another, particularly in light of the upcoming NAC. Burns reiterated that the U.S. did not believe the OSCE needed to be fixed and would not agree to anything that might jeopardize the effectiveness of the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR),the OSCE's strongest component. Burns also explained to FM Rupel that every formulation of language on the Istanbul Commitments the U.S. had offered Russia had been rejected including the NAC language. Given Rupel's tireless work over the past year and good results in Kyrgyzstan and other missions, however, Burns said he was willing to give this one more try. Rupel agreed to arrange a prior meeting at the Ambassadorial level to develop a unified approach to the Russians, and the Ministers met subsequently on December 5 (Septel). ROBERTSON NNNN