SLOVENIA CLOSELY WATCHING U.S.-RUSSIAN DISCOURSE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000312 SIPDIS SIPDIS EUR/NCE FOR SSADLE E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/16/2017 TAGS: KCFE PREL OSCE PARM NATO SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA CLOSELY WATCHING U.S.-RUSSIAN DISCOURSE ON CFE REF: SECSTATE 57275 Classified By: CDA for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (SBU) PolMilOff delivered reftel demarche to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Security Policy Department staffer Andrej Slapnicar on May 14. Slapnicar told PolMilOff that Slovenia was closely watching recent discourse on the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE). ¶2. (C) Slapnicar said that although Slovenia is not a party to the CFE, the GOS continues to see the CFE as an indispensable pillar of European security policy and that Slovenia "obliges itself to be bound to CFE rules as if we were a party." He commented that the GOS regularly receives pressure from the Russians to become a party to CFE but that it will not request accession to the treaty until Russia implements the Istanbul Agreement. ¶3. (C) He was well aware of factual inaccuracies in President Putin's remarks -- noting with amusement that Putin erroneously referred to "Slovakia" instead of "Slovenia" during the speech -- but said that the GOS understood Putin's comments within the context of recent relations between the allies and Russia, specifically noting that this seemed to be a Russian reaction to U.S. missile defense plans. Slapnicar said that as a non-party to the CFE, Slovenia is probably not in the best position to judge the ramifications of Putin's comments but that Slovenia will look to work with allies in Vienna and Brussels as discussions on the CFE continue. COLEMAN