RUSSIANS ON SPANISH OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MADRID 000984 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/21/2017 TAGS: PREL OSCE SP RS SUBJECT: RUSSIANS ON SPANISH OSCE CHAIRMANSHIP REF: MADRID 979 MADRID 00000984 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i. Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Polcouns discussed OSCE issues with Russian Political Counselor Alexey Dementiev and Advisor Dennis Gonchar on May 18 at the Russians' request. Dementiev indicated Russia's strong support for the U.S. led Global Initiative and offered to increase U.S.-Russia coordination through joint approaches to the GOS. Gonchar expressed his hope that the upcoming public-private partnership conference would be an excellent venue for continued U.S. and Russian cooperation on counterterrorism (reftel). He said that Russia views the Spanish CIO as constructive and balanced. Noting that Secretary Rice and Foreign Minister Lavrov would both be speaking to the OSCE Permanent Council this month, Gonchar said that his minister's speech should provide some clarification to President Putin's previous remarks on CFE and Russia's suggestion that CFE and Missile Defense be discussed in the OSCE. PolCouns said that the USG wanted to strengthen the core functions of OSCE in areas such as elections monitoring, human rights, and civil society and that any reforms of the organization should be undertaken toward that end, not to weaken these functions. She noted that NATO and the NATO-Russia Council provide a strong venue for discussion of core transatlantic security issues and that the U.S. does not see the OSCE as the venue for Missile Defense discussions nor opening CFE in that venue. She emphasized the need for fulfillment of the Istanbul commitments. Dementiev mentioned that Spanish PM Zapatero may go to Moscow in September or October. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) Gonchar, who is assigned to Madrid for three months to cover the Spanish OSCE Chairmanship, said that Russia supports the Spanish CIO paper "The Road to Madrid." He said that Russia takes this effort seriously and hopes that a concrete and limited agenda for the Madrid OSCE Ministerial can be worked out over the summer. He said that Spain has not paid enough attention to reform issues, including the charter, which the previous CIO had left unfinished, but Russia was generally pleased that Spain has been balanced, focusing on transparency and equality among OSCE member countries. On reform, Gonchar complained that in the past, all members had not had input, citing the ODIHR handbook, which he said was written by a small group and not approved by all delegations. He called for a consensus document that would set basic principles for OSCE election monitoring. Gonchar said that without appropriate guidance from OSCE, ODIHR risked becoming "autonomous," in which case some countries would no longer invite it to monitor their elections. Polcouns said that the U.S. would support reforms to make OSCE more effective, but only so long as they did not diminish core functions related to human rights and elections monitoring, noting the ODIHR's important role. ¶3. (C) PolCouns raised the recent problems of the Head of Mission (HOM) to Moldova. She emphasized that HOMs must be free to operate without pressure. Gonchar said O'Neill had broken Russian law and didn't have diplomatic immunity (though Russia would consider implementing immunity as part of a charter). He noted that O'Neill is the seventh American in that position, and said that HOMs should never belong to one country. Gonchar said that Russia appreciates the Spanish CIO's caution on dealing with the frozen conflicts, saying that CIOs should not try to involve themselves too much in situations that they don't understand. He praised Spain for carefully studying issues before trying to act, and noted that FM Moratinos seems to understand that the OSCE should not hold the Central Asian members to the same standards as other members and should not push them too hard. ¶4. (C) Finally, Gonchar said that the OSCE needs to do more on military issues, including Euro-atlantic security, NATO enlargement, CFE, and security in eastern Europe, and that it is the best forum because it includes the widest group of countries. PolCouns stressed that Europeans and the U.S. agree that NATO, including the NATO-Russia Council, provides the appropriate venue for discussing these "hard," central transatlantic security issues. The OSCE should retain its ability to carry out its core functions such as protection of human rights, democracy, and terrorism. Gonchar said that Spanish Foreign Minister Moratinos had agreed to discuss Missile Defense in the OSCE. PolCouns said Moratinos had told us that his words on that issue had been misinterpreted. Gonchar held to his conviction that Moratinos had agreed to such a discussion. PolCouns asserted USG views on the proper venues for discussion of Missile Defense and noted our extensive consultations with Russia on this issue. Gonchar MADRID 00000984 002.2 OF 002 said that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov would address this issue soon in a speech in Vienna. -------------- Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/ -------------- LLORENS