FINLAND RESPONSE TO UPDATED BRIEFING ON KOSOVO

C O N F I D E N T I A L HELSINKI 000847 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/23/2016 TAGS: PREL UN UNMIK PGOV YI EU FI SUBJECT: FINLAND RESPONSE TO UPDATED BRIEFING ON KOSOVO STATUS NEGOTIATIONS REF: STATE 135734 Classified By: POLCHIEF GREGORY THOME FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (U) PolChief delivered subject demarche to Finnish MFA Balkans Director Juha Ottman Aug. 23. Because of former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari's status as special envoy, the Finns tend to be very well briefed on Kosovo developments; nonetheless Ottman welcomed the US initiative to share our perspectives on the current status of negotiations. ¶2. (C) Ottman offered the following points: -- Finland, as EU President, "shares entirely" the US views that anything but independence for Kosovo (with significant EU and NATO participation) is unrealistic and ultimately not sustainable; that delaying a final status decision beyond January or at the very latest February 2007 carries risks; that partition is unacceptable; and that both sides need to do more to find realistic solutions and to compromise. -- Finland agrees that EU and NATO perspectives for Serbia are important. However, the GOF shares Ahtisaari's strong conviction that "no talk of compensation" to Belgrade for the "loss" of Kosovo is acceptable. Current Serb leadership -- including Kostunica -- even appears uninterested in the EU perspective, Ottman said, and the international community should not be drawn into the "Serbian game" of talking about compensation. -- The GOF understands that Ahtisaari intends to present his recommendations for compromises on issues that still separate Serb and Kosovar negotiators to the Contact Group (CG) for comment on Aug. 31, and would then meet again with the CG Sept. 11. Ottman was unclear how long Ahtisaari would then wait to present the recommendations to the parties -- although he noted wryly that mid-September is likely, especially given that "once the Russians have the recommendations, the Serbs will have them very shortly thereafter." WARE