SOUTH OSSETIA: JCC ADRIFT AS RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 000650

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2016
TAGS: PREL GG RS
SUBJECT: SOUTH OSSETIA: JCC ADRIFT AS RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN
ATMOSPHERICS DETERIORATE

REF: A. TBILISI 131


B. 05 MOSCOW 15690

C. MOSCOW 546

Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs Kirk Augustine.
For Reasons 1.4 (B/D).


1. (C) Russian, Georgian and South Ossetian representatives
have been unable to agree to a venue for the next Joint
Control Commission (JCC) meeting, according to Russian MFA
4th CIS Department Deputy Director Semyon Grigoriyev.
Grigoriyev told us January 24 that Russian
Ambassador-at-Large for South Ossetia Valeriy Kenyaykin was
consulting with Tskhinvali to find an acceptable venue and
hold a meeting as soon as possible.


2. (C) Grigoriyev explained that the South Ossetians had
rejected Tbilisi as a venue, citing security concerns, while
the Georgians had, in turn, objected to the South Ossetian
suggestion for a meeting in Vladikavkaz. The Russians
preferred to meet in Tbilisi, but in the face of South
Ossetian objections, had proposed to meet in Moscow. This
had drawn Georgian objections. Grigoriyev said Amb.
Kenyaykin was NOW pressing the South Ossetians to agree to a
venue to allow the meeting to go forward.


3. (C) Noting that the MFA was "well aware" of the February
15 Georgian parliamentary deadline for progress on South
Ossetia, Grigoriyev said that Russia intended to pursue a
dialogue in the JCC to discuss time-tables and work plans for
demilitarization and economic development. (NOTE: At the
December 27-28 JCC meeting, the parties were unable to agree
to the structure for a joint working group(s) to elaborate
such plans.)


4. (C) Comment: The momentum generated by the December 6
Ljubljana OSCE Declaration's endorsement of Georgia's South
Ossetia plan and "President" Kokoity's own December 12
announcement of a three-step plan dissipated after the
contentious Moscow JCC meeting. We NOW have had a long
January break, administrative reshuffling on the Russian side
as DFM Loshchinin has departed for Geneva, and -- following
the January 22 explosions in North Ossetia (ref C) -- bitter
recriminations about the break in gas and electric supplies
to Georgia. In order to help get this process back on track,
we are encouraging the Russian MFA to resume engagement in
the JCC. We -- and the Georgians -- should avoid linkage
between energy issues and South Ossetia, but it is clear that
the barbed rhetoric of recent days cannot have improved the
atmospherics for negotiations on any issue. Given the
fractious relationship between Georgia and Russia, we should
continue to urge that the JCC parties focus on concrete,
positive steps and avoid emotional language that will only
make progress more difficult.
BURNS