OSCE SYG DE BRICHAMBAUT'S VISIT: "REFORM"

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 003024

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM OSCE RS
SUBJECT: OSCE SYG DE BRICHAMBAUT'S VISIT: "REFORM"
DOMINATES TALKS

REF: A. MOSCOW 3012

B. MOSCOW 2419

Classified By: Political M/C Alice G. Wells. Reasons: 1.4(B/D).


1. (C) We met with MFA OSCE Section Chief Valeriy Maslin to
review OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut's
June 14-15 visit. De Brichambaut was in Moscow on a working
visit and met with FM Lavrov, as well as with the Russian
Security Council, Defense Ministry and the Central Election
Commission. Maslin characterized the meetings as routine,
noting that de Brichambaut made an effort to visit Russia
annually. He said the meetings gave the GOR a chance to
reiterate the importance of its OSCE "reform" proposals.


2. (C) Maslin said that FM Lavrov pushed the idea of an
OSCE Charter with de Brichambaut, arguing that the Russian
draft now circulating at OSCE would give the organization the
ability to work more effectively on the basis of "agreed
norms" that "codified" an existing patchwork of treaty
obligations and OSCE decisions. Maslin tied the adoption of
a Charter to ongoing negotiations over the OSCE's legal
personality and privileges and immunities. He said the GOR
believes that there is a logical connection between an
organizational charter which describes the functions of the
OSCE and a convention that provided a legal basis for the
organization. When pressed, Maslin said that the GOR "was
not in a hurry" to see the adoption of a Charter,
acknowledging that it had not yet gained traction with many
other OSCE delegations.


3. (C) Maslin said that Lavrov also highlighted the "food
for thought" paper the GOR had circulated suggesting changes
to ODIHR election monitoring. The GOR complained as well
about a lack of balance among the activities in each OSCE
dimension; the meeting with an MOD representative had been
designed to underline the importance of the security
dimension. Maslin flagged the U.S.-Russian initiative to
hold the May 31-June 1 Conference for Public-Private
Partnerships in Combating Counterterrorism and GOR support
for a counter-narcotics conference to be held at the end of
June in Vienna as evidence of Russia's efforts to "rebalance"
OSCE programs.


4. (C) De Brichambaut also met with recently appointed
Central Election Commission (CEC) Chairman Vladimir Churov.
Maslin, who attended the meeting, said that Churov stressed
that Russia would abide by its international obligations on
election monitoring. Preliminary discussions had begun with
ODIHR about monitoring, but it was still too early to reach
any final conclusions. Maslin thought that by the end of
September, there would be a clearer understanding of ODIHR's
role in the Russian Duma elections this coming December and
next March's presidential elections.
BURNS