UNDER SECRETARY BURNS NOVEMBER 30 MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 002202 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2022 TAGS: MARR NATO PREL SP CZ SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY BURNS NOVEMBER 30 MEETING WITH CZECH FOREIGN MINISTER Classified By: DEPUTY CHIEF OF MISSION, HUGO LLORENS, REASONS: 1.5 (B)AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Under Secretary Nicholas Burns met with Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on the margins of the Organization of Security and Cooperation (OSCE) Ministerial in Madrid. Burns agreed with Schwarzenberg that NATO members must coordinate a strong message and plan for dealing with President Putin's decision to withdraw Russia from the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty. Schwarzenberg argued that Russia was seizing the initiative on a range of issues, but Burns said that Russia was not making concrete gains. Under Secretary Burns underscored that an OSCE declaration papering over differences on CFE was not an option. End Summary RUSSIAN SUSPENSION OF CFE TREATY -------------- ¶2. (C) Schwarzenberg said that the news from Moscow regarding the suspension of the CFE treaty was bad. He said it was important to send a strong signal to Russia that this was unacceptable. Schwarzenberg indicated that the Russian decision was particularly unfortunate because "we were ready to compromise" on this issue. Burns said that the United States had made "a good offer" to Russia on CFE. He added that NATO now needs a considered response. Schwarzenberg reiterated that NATO needs to send a strong message on this topic with no "tinkering about" from Germany or Italy. Burns noted that he would be making a strong statement on the CFE matter during his remarks at the Ministerial, and that NATO foreign ministers need to be "strong" on this issue and develop a plan for dealing with the suspension. Burns expressed disappointment that Foreign Minister Lavrov had not previewed at the Annapolis summit that President Putin would be signing the suspension decree. Burns added that the U.S. would be making strong statements about Russian "unilateralism" in this context. RUSSIA GAINING GROUND IN SCHWARZENBERG'S OPINION -------------- ¶3. (C) Schwarzenberg said that beginning in January 2007 with a speech by President Putin in Munich, Russia was effectively gaining strength. Burns agreed that Russia had made much use of "megaphone diplomacy" but noted that Russia was isolated on Kosovo and had not achieved concrete results in other areas either. Schwarzenberg agreed somewhat with the Under Secretary's analysis, but he said that the Russians nonetheless "make great mischief." He said that the international environment makes it more complicated to challenge the Russian military presence in Georgia and Transnistria. Burns said he understood, and that therefore a concerted and strong U.S.-European position on Kosovo, the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIR) and CFE was all the more essential. OSCE DECLARATION PAPERING OVER DIFFERENCES WITH RUSSIA NOT AN OPTION -------------- ¶4. (C) Burns said that he would shortly be seeing Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos, who would likely want U.S. support for an OSCE declaration papering over differences with Russia on CFE. The Under Secretary said he would tell Moratinos that such a declaration was not possible. Schwarzenberg agreed with this approach. He then added that "his dear friend Moratinos" had granted a visa to Transnistrian Foreign Minister Litskai to come to Spain, although he was not attending the Ministerial. A member of Schwarzenberg's staff said that it was lucky that Russia had not included Litskai in its delegation. AGUIRRE