SPAIN: DEMARCHE ON GEORGIA'S BORDER MONITORING

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000992 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2015 TAGS: PREL ZJ RS GG PBTS EUN OSCE SUBJECT: SPAIN: DEMARCHE ON GEORGIA'S BORDER MONITORING ORGANIZATION REF: STATE 43096 Classified By: Political Officer Ricardo Zuniga for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Charge raised the issue of a Georgia Border Monitoring Organization (BMO) in a March 14 discussion with Rafael Dezcallar, MFA Director General for Foreign Policy, and Josep Pons, MFA Director General of Foreign Policy for Europe and North America. Dezcallar professed little knowledge of the issue and referred Charge to Pons to discuss details. Pons told Charge that Spain is inclined to support broader efforts for a Georgia BMO. Pons said that Spain was currently discussing the issue within the Ministry, but he assured Charge that Spain "does not want to let Georgia down." Charge also emphasized the importance of the EU establishing a small mission in Tblisi. Pons said he was aware of the proposal and promised to get back to Charge soon with details on Spain's position. ¶2. (C) Poloff raised the issue with Enrique Mora Benavente, Head of EU Policy Planning at the MFA on March 14. Mora Benavente told Poloff that because Russia had vetoed the OSCE BMO operation, any international presence on the Georgian border with Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetiya would have to be discussed with Russia. He said that the EU is currently considering three options for a BMO in Georgia, including: (1) Reinforcing the office of the EU Special Representative to the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie; (2) Training Georgian officials to patrol the border; and (3) Having an EU mission at the border that would be a European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) mission. He said that there was widespread consensus in the EU for the first two options, but there was no consensus on the third option. He said that the Baltic States, Slovakia, and Sweden were all pushing the third option, but he said the proposal did not have strong support among other EU members. ¶3. (C) Mora Benavente said that the EU will try to talk with the Russians, Georgians, and the USG to help resolve the current problem. The GOS agrees that it is crucial to maintain an independent BMO along Georgia's border with Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetiya. When Poloff suggested the EU proposal for training would be insufficient, Mora Benavente conceded that the current EU proposal to provide 4-6 trainers may be too small to address the problem. He told Poloff that the international community now has a six-week window to try to resolve the Georgian BMO problem because poor weather in the mountainous border region will prevent action during that time. MANZANARES