RUSSIAN MFA ON ICTY PIFWC LIKELY IN RUSSIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 006464 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/19/2016 TAGS: KJUS KCRM PREL ICTY KAWC PHUM BK SR RS SUBJECT: RUSSIAN MFA ON ICTY PIFWC LIKELY IN RUSSIA REF: STATE 98266 Classified By: A/POL Bruce Donahue. Reasons: 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche June 19 to Andrey Kalinin of the MFA Legal Department. Kalinin and his superior, Department Section Chief Igor Panin (who was traveling at the time),are the only officials in the MFA with a thorough knowledge of the ICTY and the status of PIFWCs. Russia's Ambassador-at-Large for Balkan Conflicts, Aleksandr Botsan-Kharchenko, routinely refers us to the Legal Department when PIFWC issues arise. ¶2. (C) Kalinin told us that information the ICTY provided to the GOR on the possible presence in Russia of Vlastimir Djordjevic had been passed to relevant agencies. Kalinin reported that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Procurator General, and various regional authorities had been investigating the information provided on Djordjevic, including several possible addresses, and had been unable to confirm Djordjevic's whereabouts. He said that efforts to locate Djordjevic were ongoing. ¶3. (C) Comment: The Russian MFA has relatively little influence over the response of the GOR to presumed PIFWC cases. We will continue to press the GOR to live up to its international obligations toward the ICTY. BURNS