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

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said that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov would address this
issue soon in a speech in Vienna.

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Visit Embassy Madrid's Classified Website;
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/madrid/
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LLORENS