AUSTRIA VIEWS RUSSIAN PARTICIPATION IN

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002400 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/UMB, EUR/SNEC, AND EUR/AGS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/15/2015 TAGS: OPDC PARM PBTS PHUM PREL PGOV AU EUN OSCE SUBJECT: AUSTRIA VIEWS RUSSIAN PARTICIPATION IN MULTILATERAL CONFERENCE ON TRANSNISTRIA AS KEY REF: STATE 125824 Classified By: Acting Economic-Political Counselor Phillip R. Nelson for reasons 1.5(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On July 7, post conveyed reftel talking points to Josef Litschauer, Head of the MFA's CIS Unit. Acting Econ-Pol Counselor met with Litschauer on July 15 to elicit GoA views on a multilateral conference. Litschauer said the GoA would support EU participation in such a conference, but only if Russia agreed to attend also. The GoR, in Litschauer's opinion, would construe a multilateral conference without it as a U.S.-EU attempt to isolate Russia from the negotiations. Litschauer noted that the real challenge was how to foster a more constructive approach from the GoR. Litschauer added that the GoA believed the U.S. and EU could still persuade Russia to attend a multilateral conference. Brown