AUSTRALIA GROUP: SLOVAKIA HOPES FOR U.S.-EU

C O N F I D E N T I A L BRATISLAVA 000369 SIPDIS SIPDIS ISN/CB, EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2018 TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC LO SUBJECT: AUSTRALIA GROUP: SLOVAKIA HOPES FOR U.S.-EU COORDINATION IN ADVANCE OF JUNE MEETING REF: SECSTATE 70409 Classified By: Classified By: Ambassador Rodolphe M. Vallee per E.O. 12 958, reasons 1. 4(b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Summary. The Russians have approached Slovakia twice to seek support for their bid to join the Australia Group. For both practical and political reasons Slovakia is not inclined to support Russian membership. It is Slovakia's impression that the U.S. is looking for a reason not to support Russian membership. The Slovaks hope the U.S. and EU will coordinate a position on this issue in advance of the AG Plenary. End Summary. ¶2. (C) Poloff delivered reftel talking points and non-paper to Karol Mistrik, Director of the Arms Control, OSCE and Counter-Terrorism Department at the Slovak MFA. Mistrik said the Russian Embassy had approached him twice in the past month about the upcoming AG Plenary; the Embassy had let him know that Russian representatives would be in Paris to follow the meeting. ¶3. (C) Mistrik said the Russians mentioned only practical issues related to their border controls and ability to fulfill the obligations of AG membership. Later on, however, when Mistrik was discussing Slovakia's political objections to Russian membership, he mentioned Russia's blocking of Slovakia's application to join the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and it was apparent that he had discussed reciprocal support for the two countries ambitions with the Russians. Mistrik said he told the Russian representative that reciprocity would be difficult since Slovakia was not in a position to sway many members of the AG with respect to Russian ambitions. ¶4. (C) Mistrik expressed his belief that the U.S. was asking allies to present information on Russia in order to find a reason to deny them membership. He said Slovakia did not want to go out on a limb in opposing Russian membership because of the delicacy of their bilateral relationship. He said the EU is already working on a coordinated position vis-a-vis Russia's AG ambitions and that he hoped the U.S. and EU would be able to coordinate in advance of the AG Plenary as well. ¶5. (U) Recalling a graph the US delegation had shown at the last two meetings indicating that greater membership yields lesser effectiveness, Mistrik implied that the idea of the graph was not well thought-out given the US desire to see other treaty-based bodies expand their membership. (Comment: Poloff understood this as a reference to EU expansion. End Comment.) Mistrik said he was considering asking Slovakia's mission in the U.S. to approach the USG directly with these issues, or that alternatively he might contact his own counterpart informally. VALLEE