AMBASSADOR BAILEY'S MEETING WITH RUSSIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIGA 000519

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2016
TAGS: PREL ETRD ENRG ECON WTO RS LG
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR BAILEY'S MEETING WITH RUSSIAN
AMBASSADOR KALYUZHNY

REF: RIGA 481

Classified By: Ambassador Catherine Todd Bailey. Reason 1.4 (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY: In a June 29 meeting, Ambassador Bailey and
Russian Ambassador Kalyuzhny discussed the security situation
in Iraq; energy security; Latvian-Russian bilateral
relations; the NATO Summit; the recent visit of Latvian
President Vaira Vike-Freiberga to the U.S.; and Russia's
desire to join the WTO. Although Kalyuzhny was less
bombastic towards Latvia than in previous meetings, he was
still downbeat on the bilateral relationship. He was also
more negative toward the U.S. than in previous encounters.
Kalyuzhny expressed strong and rather bizarre concern about
the public diplomacy events surrounding the NATO Summit. END
SUMMARY


2. (U) Ambassador Bailey met with Russian Ambassador Victor
Kalyuzhny at the residence on the morning of June 29.
Kalyuzhny was accompanied by his DCM and political counselor.
Embassy pol/econ chief and pol/econoff (notetaker)
accompanied Ambassador Bailey. Embassy FSN served as
translator.

Security in Iraq
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3. (U) Ambassador Bailey opened the meeting by extending
condolences on behalf of the United States for the murders of
four Russian diplomats in Iraq. Ambassador Kalyuzhny noted
that Putin considers these murders to be a serious security
lesson for protecting diplomats and a problem that needs to
be corrected. Kalyuzhny also said that fighting terror is
something that the U.S. and Russia can do jointly.

Energy Security
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4. (C) Kalyuzhny, former Russian minister for fuel and
energy, spoke at length on energy security in the context of
the G8 Summit. He contended that other countries are
politicizing energy security; Russia views it as an economic
issue. "We have only what nature has given us, the rest is
controlled by market forces," he stated. He urged the U.S.
to encourage Europe to refrain from stoking the political
fires on the issue. Ambassador Bailey noted that Latvian PM
Kalvitis stressed the importance of Russia in the energy
sector when he was recently in St. Petersburg. Ambassador
Kalyuzhny replied with no sense of irony that this was a
technique of the Latvians to avoid focusing on important
things by talking about "irrelevant" topics like energy
security.

Latvian-Russian Bilateral Relations
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5. (C) Ambassador Bailey congratulated Kalyuzhny on what
appear to be recent positive trends in the Latvian-Russian
bilateral relations with the meetings of Latvian PM Kalvitis
with Russian PM Fradkov and President Putin (reftel).
Kalyuzhny said that the improvements started when President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga (VVF) visited Russia last year for the
May 9 celebrations. However, he said that progress stalled
when Latvia added a unilateral declaration to the bilateral
border treaty. Kalyuzhny also stressed that it was due to
the efforts of the Russian Embassy in Latvia that these
meetings occurred. (Comment: GOL officials, on the contrary,
cite the Embassy here and the Russian MFA as among the
biggest obstacles to the meeting with Fradkov. End comment.)
Kalyuzhny indicted that Russian PM Fradkov did not want to
meet with Kalvitis, not because of who Kalvitis is
personally, but because the top level of Latvian politicians
make it difficult. Kalyuzhny then gave the example of VVF's
recent visit to Finland and her alleged comment that Russia
is not a trusted economic partner. After several inquiries
by Ambassador Bailey on the format of the Intergovernmental
Commission, Kalyuzhny downplayed it by saying the proposed
bilateral Commission is just the standard way Russia
organizes bilateral commissions. There are 54 elements of
the Russian government represented in this group, which has
subgroups on different bilateral issues. Despite repeated
interest by the Ambassador, Kalyuzhny gave no hint of when
Russia might name their cochair, as the Latvians have already
done.

The NATO Summit
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6. (C) Unexpectedly, Ambassador Kalyuzhny then raised
concerns over the public meetings that will occur on the
margins of the NATO Summit. His DCM specifically complained
about the theme of "global partnership." Interestingly, he
did not say anything about the summit (Track I) agenda
itself, and even displayed little interest. However,
Kalyuzhny and his DCM showed concern over the conversations.
Ambassador Bailey explained that attempts to highlight a host

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country on the margins of a Summit are not uncommon.
Kalyuzhny said Russia was "against" the second track of
meetings because it is believed that regardless of the agenda
topic for the discussions, the Latvians would ensure that the
dialogue would inevitably turn to historical relations and
criticism of the Soviet Union/Russia. He claimed that VVF
has set this negative tone in the past that others have
followed.

President Vaira Vike-Freiberga's Visit to the U.S.
-------------- --------------

7. (C) Ambassador Bailey informed Kalyuzhny that President
Vaira Vike-Freiberga is, in Ambassador Bailey's views, very
positive and focused on moving Latvia forward, and this was
particularly reflected in her address before the Joint
Session of Congress in early June. Kalyuzhny expressed
interest in VVF's trip to Washington, and Ambassador Bailey
informed him that VVF met with Secretary Rice, Vice President
Cheney, and President Bush. Ambassador Kalyuzhny replied
that VVF said very unpleasant things about Russia in her
"secret interview" with CBS (an interview that no one at post
or at VVF's office is aware of, despite attempts in
researching it). Apparently, the Russian Embassy in
Washington is reporting that this so called interview
contained "inappropriate" comments on Russia.

Russia's Desire to Join the WTO
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8. (C) Ambassador Kalyuzhny asked why the United States is
not allowing Russia to join the WTO. He claimed to know the
answer to his own question saying that, "these days you
cannot let everybody in." Kalyuzhny followed this by
pointing out that now China is a member and is moving into
all markets, saying it seemed to him that the U.S. is scared
that Russia would also dominate global markets. He stressed
that Russia would very much like to join the WTO, and
caustically remarked that if the U.S. is going to block
Russia's WTO accession, then the U.S. should refrain from
criticizing Russia for not being a WTO member.


9. (C) COMMENT: During this meeting Kalyuzhny was less
critical about the Latvians, except for the President, than
he has been in the past. However, he cautioned the short
term prospects for improvement in the bilateral relationship.
Although he was notably more critical of the United States
and USG policies, he nevertheless continues to very much
value these discussions and appreciates the work of both the
U.S. and Russia on related security concerns. This was the
first formal meeting with Ambassador Kalyuzhny in several
months, and both graciously agreed to keep the lines of
communication open. Kalyuzhny, never brief in his remarks,
can be pointed in his comments and when he arrived in Riga
two years ago his bombastic style and harsh criticism of the
Latvians made for a rough start. In recent months, the
Ambassador has noticed that Kalyuzhny has become more engaged
with the Latvians and the diplomatic community, and appears
more communicative and open at events.

Bailey