Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BELGRADE897
2007-06-25 06:34:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Belgrade
Cable title:  

KOSOVO WEEKLY UPDATE: STATUS DELAY GAMES

Tags:  PGOV PREL PHUM PBTS KPAO SR MW YI 
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RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0897/01 1760634
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 250634Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1057
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC 1363
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000897 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PBTS KPAO SR MW YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO WEEKLY UPDATE: STATUS DELAY GAMES


UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000897

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM PBTS KPAO SR MW YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO WEEKLY UPDATE: STATUS DELAY GAMES



1. (SBU) Summary: Serbian officials, confident that a Kosovo status
decision will be delayed considerably, augmented diplomatic
overtures to Russia and European countries with the aim of isolating
the USG in the push for independence. The GOS reacted quickly to
the new draft UNSC resolution by echoing Russia's opposition and
calling on its drafters to withdraw the resolution. The GOS
indicated it had drafted a new Kosovo plan for Russia in advance of
the President's summit with Russian President Putin in
Kennebunkport. The GOS has refused to reveal any details either to
the media or through our diplomatic requests, with Kosovo Minister
Samardzic saying only the plan reflects that "it is very important
[for Serbia] to have the process restart in the right way."
Samardzic also assessed that Pristina would only be willing to
engage in new talks with "encouragement from the United States." The
Ambassador, in comments to the press, lamented the utter lack of
realism in the GOS approach and reminded Belgrade that the current
UNSCR draft was a final opportunity for additional input into the
Ahtisaari Plan. End Summary.

GOS strategy: delay through more talks
--------------


2. (SBU) Belgrade focused its efforts this week on securing more
international support for a delay on a status decision, attacking
the draft UNSC resolution and renewing a call for fresh talks with
Pristina. The GOS also revealed it drafted a new Kosovo plan for
the Russians, but would not come forward with any details.


3. (U) On 6/19, after bilateral meetings with the Foreign Ministers
of France, Portugal, Slovenia and the Netherlands, Deputy PM Djelic
told Serbian media that he assessed "growing support" for further
negotiations on Kosovo. Similarly, on a visit to Greece, FM Jeremic
said on 6/20 that Athens also supports more talks "without
conditions."


4. (SBU) Serbian leaders seized on ICTY prosecutor Carla Del Ponte's
support for a delay in Kosovo status resolution. Rather than the
usual denouncement of international representatives for overstepping

their mandate in discussing Kosovo status, GOS officials here
defended Del Ponte's statements. ICTY Cooperation Chair Rasim
Ljajic said on 6/20 that Del Ponte was "entitled to point out to the
UNSC anything that could contribute to Serbia's cooperation with
ICTY." Ljajic also told reporters that Serbia believes Del Ponte's
obligation was "to provide conditions" for cooperation with ICTY -
implying that in such a context her remarks were within her
authority. (Note: This is a disappointing but unsurprising
assessment from a government that previously lambasted Del Ponte for
calling on the EU to stall SAA talks due to lack of cooperation with
ICTY. End note.)


PM attacks draft UNSCR, offers plan to Russians
-------------- --


5. (U) Even before the new draft UNSCR was tabled at in New York; a
GOS attack on "predetermined negotiations" had been underway since
Sarkozy's original announcement at the end of the G8 Summit. On
6/19, PM spokesperson Srdjan Djuric rejected a call for more talks
with the automatic result of Kosovo independence at the end as
unacceptable to Serbia. Djuric reiterated Serbia's call for "real
negotiations and instead of political force." Belgrade heightened
attacks on the idea after the formal submission of the new draft
UNSCR on 6/20 and Russia's subsequent rejection. Building on
Russian PermRep Churkin's assessment of the draft as "unacceptable",
Djuric said on 6/21 that the GOS welcomed Russia's decision as a
"continuation of principal policy and cooperation between Belgrade
and Moscow based on the respect of the international law and UN
Charter."


6. (U) In an official statement released on 6/21, Kostunica called
on "Western nations" to withdraw the draft UNSCR because it "robs"
Serbia of its territory and violates the UN Charter. Kostunica
also assessed that any draft resolution based on the implementation
of Ahtissari's plan that was "doomed" and would not pass the UNSC.
Referring to the Serbian parliament's appeal to the UN
Secretary-General for more talks, Kostunica said that "there has

SIPDIS
been no explanation...why negotiations were severed or why new and
substantial talks on Kosovo have not been launched pursuant to
Belgrade's initiative." Kosovo Minister Samardzic told the press
that it would be incumbent on the USG to "encourage" the Kosovo
Albanians to participate in new discussions.


7. (SBU) Kosovo Minister Samardzic confirmed on 6/21 that the GOS
had drafted a new plan for Kosovo and submitted it to the Russians,
but refused to reveal its contents. Samardzic told reporters on
6/21 that he gave Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Alekseev a
document presenting Serbia's proposals for further negotiations.
He said only that the document draws from Serbia's national platform
on Kosovo status (a wide autonomy plan). Samardzic added that Putin

BELGRADE 00000897 002 OF 002


could use the document in his discussions with the President in
their upcoming Kennebunkport summit in early July. When pressed by
reporters on the document's content, Samardzic said that he "cannot
discuss the content...it is [secret] in terms of form" but the
"purpose of the document is to stimulate the Russian side and brief
them on our ideas and positions." He added that the document
includes specific proposals regarding "negotiation procedure" and
that Serbia wants a quick restart to talks in the "direction of
compromise." Official Embassy requests to the Kosovo Ministry have
thus far been refused, but we understand informally that the
so-called new plan is little more that a reiteration of "substantial
autonomy."


8. (U) Serbian parliament Speaker Oliver Dulic expressed
dissatisfaction on 6/21 over the GOS' refusal to share the plan.
Dulic said that he was "impatiently waiting for the negotiating team
or the Ministry for Kosovo to give some kind of document" for MPs to
study and respond to. He stressed that it was "very important that
the MPs should be informed about the situation in Kosovo and
progress in our negotiations and our present situation."


Diplomatic Activity
--------------


9. (U) Denmark: Belgrade wires reported on 6/18 that Danish Defense
Minister Gade said, during his visit to Kosovo, that the process of
determining the future status of Kosovo had been postponed.


10. (U) Russia: According to local press reports, Serbian President
Tadic and Putin will meet on June 24 in Zagreb as Croatia at the
Southeast European Energy Summit.


11. (U) Slovenia: Serbian media reported Slovenian FM Rupel's
comments that decision on Kosovo status might be postponed until
Slovenia's EU chairmanship in 2008. He said that he would propose
postponing the Kosovo solution by several months due to disagreement
among UNSC members. He added that the international community could
use the postponement to make adjustments toward improving the
position of Serbs in Kosovo while not going against the province's
independence.


Comment
--------------


12. (SBU) Belgrade is triumphant with the change of tone among
internationals from uniform insistence on a speedy resolution of
Kosovo status to an increasing call for delay and more talks. The
GOS is eagerly shaping new European calls for fresh talks -- along
with what they consider unshakable Russian support -- into a sense
of inevitable victory of Serbia's Kosovo policy and the death of the
Ahtisaari Plan. Kostunica and his deputies' tone has evolved
slightly vis-`-vis the USG, adding to outright attacks on our policy
the brokering of an understanding between us and the Russians that
more talks are needed, and that we are responsible for delivering
the Kosovo Albanians. Kostunica has found an ally in this in
Foreign Minister Jeremic, who keeps lamenting that Kosovo is now a
"big power" issue, in which an innocent Serbia is squeezed --
through no action of its own -- between the titans. Meanwhile,
Belgrade is relishing the intrigue around its "secret plan" for the
Russians to use at the titans' encounter in July.

POLT