ESTONIA TO ISSUE STATEMENT ON EXTRAORDINARY CFE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TALLINN 000377 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2017 TAGS: KCFE PARM PREL NATO RS EN SUBJECT: ESTONIA TO ISSUE STATEMENT ON EXTRAORDINARY CFE CONFERENCE REF: A) STATE 77371 B) STATE 75293 Classified By: DCM Jeff Goldstein for reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) ¶1. (C) On June 6, we delivered Ref A points to Kristjan Priik, Second Secretary in the MFA's Security and Arms Control Division, on preparations for the extraordinary CFE (Conventional Forces in Europe) conference. On June 7, Priik reiterated Estonia's position on Russia's proposal (Ref B). Coordinating with Lithuania and Latvia, the MFA plans to release a statement on June 11 to voice support for the CFE Treaty. The statement will make the following points: - The CFE Treaty is one of the cornerstones of European Security and, therefore, any statements that undermine the CFE are unfortunate; - The adapted CFE Treaty has not yet entered into force, but once ratified, Estonia intends to join the adapted treaty; - Estonia fully supports NATO's position that the prerequisite for the ratification of the adapted CFE Treaty by NATO members is Russia's full implementation of its remaining Istanbul commitments. PHILLIPS