AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH NEW DEFMIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE 000879

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/14/17
TAGS: PGOV PREL MASS MARR SR
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MEETING WITH NEW DEFMIN


Classified by Ambassador Michael Polt, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (c) Summary: The Ambassador's June 1 courtesy call on new
DEFMIN Dragan Sutanovac focused on ICTY cooperation (improving),
Kosovo (the military remains committed to staying out),and
developing Serbia's security relationship with the U.S. and NATO.
Sutanovac has already experienced the frustration of his ministry's
anorexic budgetary situation, and like his predecessors is hard at
work looking for creative ways to get more of the budget funneled
into MoD coffers. The new minister will be a pragmatic supporter of
much of our agenda, but his bottom line is still a considerable
amount of self-promotion. End summary.

ICTY


2. (c) Sutanovac shared the Ambassador's analysis that the arrest
of Zdravko Tolimir was a positive development in the short term. He
claimed the military was not in any way involved in the operation,
and had few details to provide regarding the operation. He noted
that Tolimir's arrest was a badly needed step forward, adding that
his arrest outside of Serbia might help the GoS convince ICTY and the
international community that the remaining PIFWCs are not on its
territory. Sutanovac said he would be ramping up the Ministry's own
commitment to ICTY cooperation through aggressive "no notice" sweeps
of military installations to ensure no PIFWCs were receiving support
from anyone in the armed forces.

KOSOVO


3. (c) Sutanovac reiterated that the Serbian military had no plans
or interest to intervene in Kosovo under any possible scenario. He
noted that the military stood ready to provide medical care and other
humanitarian assistance as needed in the event of violence or a
humanitarian emergency in the province. He warned, though, that the
international community should keep a watchful eye on Interior
Ministry personnel, especially those now in Kosovo. Admitting his
long abiding interest in MININT issues, he said there are many in the
police forces whose careers have been shaped by past experience in
Kosovo, and admitted some may be looking for an excuse to stir up
trouble - he stated there are some 200 active duty police with
connections to past Kosovo violence who would bear watching.

SECURITY RELATIONSHIPS, CHALLENGES


4. (c) Sutanovac told the Ambassador he considered it his mission
"to prepare the Serbian armed forces for inclusion in NATO," and
committed to continuing to work with the U.S. bilaterally to develop
our security relationship. He said Serbia's PfP Presentation
Document would be delivered to Brussels by the end of June, and
expressed confidence that the Security Document, though currently
held up by bureaucratic inertia, should follow shortly thereafter.
Sutanovac reiterated strong support for the DRG process, promised to
seek a recommendation from CHOD Ponos for additional MANPADS
destructions by the end of July, and pledged continued support for an
ambitious training and exchange relationship.


5. (c) At the same time, he bemoaned the fact that the military's
transformation was being severely curtailed by budgetary woes. He
said salary and pension payments were devouring the bulk of his
budget, and complained that the MoD was not seeing any rewards from
downsizing and privatization of military properties (he mentioned
specifically the New Embassy Compound site) as the Finance Ministry
was allocating the money he generated elsewhere. Sutanovac mentioned
several schemes the MoD was brainstorming to generate capital outside
the budget process (including in-kind payments for properties and
running civilian flights out of military airfields),but admitted
these ideas were unlikely to go far.

COMMENT


6. (c) We have dealt with Sutanovac for a long time as a DS Vice
President, and know him to be a competent, pragmatic politician with
a real interest in security issues (though almost exclusively on the
MININT side) and a willingness to stand up to political opponents in
DSS and G-17 on issues about which he feels strongly. At the same
time, though, Sutanovac is by his own admission looking out first for
himself - he told the Ambassador just prior to accepting the
Ministerial position that he conditioned his acceptance on a
guarantee from President Tadic that DS would lend its full support to
running Sutanovac as its candidate for Mayor of Belgrade at the next
elections (probably by the end of 2007). Sutanovac told us up front
that he sees MoD as a temporary job, and that Belgrade mayor puts him
in a better long-term position politically. In the meantime, we
expect he will continue the pace and scope of military transformation
undertaken by his predecessors and will be a genuine supporter of
moving Serbia closer to the US and NATO.

POLT