OSCE MADRID MINISTERIAL - DEMARCHE DELIVERY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001030 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO, EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2017 TAGS: OSCE PREL PGOV PHUM SUBJECT: OSCE MADRID MINISTERIAL - DEMARCHE DELIVERY REF: SECSTATE 157672 Classified By: PolOff Tom Selinger for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) Post delivered reftel demarche to Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Pjer Simunovic November 20. Simunovic was particularly appreciative of language calling for OSCE to close or minimize its mission in Croatia. This is clearly Zagreb's top priority in Madrid, but Simunovic stressed that the GoC can only press so hard without appearing uncooperative, so US leadership on this issue is critical. ¶2. (C) Simunovic agreed that a forced closure of the mission in Kosovo by Russia and Serbia would be a tremendous step backward both for the Serbian minority in Kosovo and for the OSCE as an institution. He said Kosovo closure combined with Russia's potential suspension of CFE treaty implementation would be an existential crisis for the OSCE. "If the OSCE can't keep a mission open in a key flashpoint and the CFE treaty is not being implemented, there will be a real question of what purpose the OSCE is serving," he said. BRADTKE