ITALIAN MFA INSISTS NO CHANGE IN KOSOVO POLICY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000566 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV UNSC YI SR IT SUBJECT: ITALIAN MFA INSISTS NO CHANGE IN KOSOVO POLICY AFTER PUTIN VISIT, DESPITE DECLARATION OF AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA REF: A) SILVERMAN-ESCOBAR EMAIL 3/21/06 B) ROME 535 Classified By: Classified by Jonathan R. Cohen, Acting Political Minist er Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) On March 21 poloff contacted Raimondo De Cardona, Director of the Balkans Office of the Italian MFA, to raise concerns that Italian comments in the wake of the March 14 Putin visit to Italy were creating confusion among Contact Group nations and UNSC members. Specifically, poloff raised a report from Embassy Bratislava (ref a) that the Russians had cited Italy as an example of EU disunity on the Ahtisaari plan. Poloff added that public statements by PM Prodi claiming identical Italian and Russian views on Kosovo and private conversations with members of his staff (ref b) had given us wondering about what Italy's true intent was both within the Contact Group and at the UNSC. ¶2. (C/NF) De Cardona insisted that Italy's position on Kosovo remained unchanged. Italy supports the work of UNOSEK Ahtisaari and agrees that the issue should be moved to the UNSC to set the conditions for supervised independence. He added that the Secretary should have received that message in Washington during her bilateral discussion with FM D'Alema on March 19 and MFA Director General for European Affairs Mirachian briefed EU ambassadors after the Putin visit with the same message. De Cardona noted that while Italy has tactical differences on how to proceed with a status solution, Italy shares the same vision with the rest of the Quint on Kosovo. ¶3. (C/NF) De Cardona was unaware that the Russian MFA had issued a statement about identical Russian and Italian views on Kosovo but insisted that this was part of a Russian "disinformation" campaign intended to confuse undecided members of the UNSC and EU. De Cardona stated that he would recommend that their Embassy in Moscow get clarification on the statement and correct any inaccuracies. SPOGLI