SPAIN ON RUSSIAN CFE CONCERNS AND MINISTERIAL

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 001099

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

EUR/RPM FOR PETE PETERSON
USNATO FOR LOOK AND LAURENDEAU
EUR FOR DAS VOLKER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017
TAGS: KCFE NATO PARM PREL SP
SUBJECT: SPAIN ON RUSSIAN CFE CONCERNS AND MINISTERIAL

REF: A. STATE 75239

B. STATE 77371

Classified By: DCM Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Poloff met with Spanish Deputy DG for
Nonproliferation and Disarmament Ignacio Sanchez June 6 to
discuss the need for a united response to Russia's concerns
on the CFE treaty. Sanchez said that neither he nor Deputy
DG for International Security Affairs Pablo Gutierrez-Segu
would be able to attend the High Level Task Force June 7 in
Brussels due to the overwhelming amount of staff work
generated by the carousel of high-level visits currently
taking place in Madrid. He also said it was unclear what
level of participation Spain would have at the Vienna
Conference, given the unavailability of its highest level
diplomats. He imagined that Pepe Pons, the DG for America
and Europe, would attend at least some of the conference, but
Sanchez added that DG for Disarmament Angel Lossada would
probably not be available. Sanchez said he had received
several diplomats the same morning to discuss the CFE
conference, including the Russians and the Dutch.


2. (C) Spain agrees that a unified response to Russia's
concerns is absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, Sanchez
noted that Russia's stated concerns were likely not
indicative of their real agenda, and he hoped that the
Alliance would keep an open mind whenever the Russian
Federation eventually showed its cards. Sanchez also worried
that the timeline is so short that a truly unified position
would be difficult to achieve.


3. (C) Sanchez emphasized that the main goal for all parties
should be the ratification of the Adapted CFE treaty. The
security framework created in the past 15 years emphasized
security built together with Russia, enabling cooperation and
engagement in a number of areas that Sanchez said were
previously unimaginable. Inflexibility at this time could
cause the situation to spiral back to an us-versus-them
dynamic. Spain would encourage the Alliance to keep its
focus on achieving the long-term goal of ratification of the
Adapted CFE treaty.


4. (C) The big mystery, Sanchez said, is what Russia really
wants out of this conference; he imagined that Russia would
have to present a more reasonable proposal once the
conference got underway as their draft Final Document was not
even within the realm of credibility and would hardly justify
a conference. He noted that Russia could just as easily have
definitively withdrawn from the CFE Treaty without calling a
conference; as such, Sanchez does not believe that is their
end goal. If Russia were to make a more moderate proposal,
what he called "a new perspective," he hoped the U.S. would
receive it with an open mind. He said he hoped the Alliance
would not rely solely on the purity of the treaty's wording
and legal formulations to justify its position.


5. (C) From its perspective as Chair-In-Office of the OSCE,
Spain would definitely like to see progress on the Adapted
CFE treaty prior to the Madrid conference in November.
(NOTE: DCM will take up this topic again with MFA Political
Director Rafael Dezcallar on June 7, and Post will report
that conversation septel. END NOTE.)

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