MOSCOW WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESUMPTION OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 012200 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/02/2016 TAGS: PREL PARM KNNP KN RS SUBJECT: MOSCOW WELCOMES ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESUMPTION OF SIX-PARTY TALKS Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns: 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (U) The Russian government welcomed the agreement to resume the Six-Party talks. Russian officials, including Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov, and Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Alekseyev accepted the announcement as "exceedingly positive." Alekseyev stressed publicly that the Russian authorities were aware of the trilateral informal meeting in Beijing and praised China for "arranging" the meeting. ¶2. (C) DFM Alekseyev told Ambassador November 2 that he was very encouraged by the DPRK decision to come back to the talks, although he recognized that the discussions themselves would be a hard slog. He welcomed the opportunity to consult with the U.S. on next steps. He added that he would be in Beijing November 8-10 with PM Fradkov, and might also see a DPRK representative while in China. ¶3. (C) Oleg Davydov, an MFA Senior Counselor advising DFM Alekseyev on Korean matters, told us that the GOR's Korea watchers did not know the specifics of the Beijing informal meeting. In view of differing interpretations from capitals, the GOR would offer further reaction only after concrete details from the meeting were known. Immediately after the announcement, the MFA website posted a statement welcoming the decision and reiterating the GOR's position: "Russia supports the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula through political and diplomatic means, with the participation of all interested states, and is ready to contribute to the swiftest resumption of the Six-Party process." ¶4. (C) Senior government officials emphasized publicly that the talks should resume as soon as possible and indicated that Russia would be an active participant. Sergey Ivanov hinted that the talks would restart before the end of this year and most likely take place in China. Oleg Davydov confirmed to us Russia's readiness to participate and to exert a "positive" influence whenever possible during the negotiation process. ¶5. (C) Comment: Despite President Putin's criticism of U.S. diplomacy towards North Korea in an October 25 public appearance, GOR praise for the U.S. and PRC-engineered diplomatic turn of events has been straightforward. DFM Alekseyev in particular is ready to coordinate closely on next steps. BURNS