GOR SEEKS DISCUSSIONS ON P-5 GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 002063 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2017 TAGS: PREL UNSC KTIA RS SUBJECT: GOR SEEKS DISCUSSIONS ON P-5 GENTLEMEN'S AGREEMENT Classified By: Ambassador William Burns. Reasons 1.4 (b and d). ¶1. (C) In a May 4 meeting with the Ambassador on U.S. assistance (septel),DFM Aleksandr Yakovenko requested that the P-5 "gentlemen's agreement" on supporting nominees for various UN boards be discussed at the next international organization political directors meeting. Yakovenko said that the GOR wanted to raise the issue after Britain and France failed to support the Russian candidate for the Permanent Forum of Indigenous Issues. The Russian candidate had been elected by one vote, and Yakovenko said that the Western European Group had unanimously voted against him. ¶2. (C) Britain and France's lack of support was so obvious that it called into question whether the gentlemen's agreement still held, Yakovenko said. The GOR supported the agreement and wanted to continue it but if other P-5 members felt differently, then it needed to be discussed and a decision taken on its future. BURNS