SLOVENIA: EU SPEAKS WITH "ONE VOICE" ON RUSSIA'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000389 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/27/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL GG RU SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: EU SPEAKS WITH "ONE VOICE" ON RUSSIA'S RECOGNITION OF SOUTH OSSETIA AND ABKHAZIA REF: A. SECSTATE 91894 ¶B. LJUBLJANA 0371 Classified By: DCM Brad Freden, reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (C) On August 28, DCM met with Ambassador Ada Filip-Slivnik, Head of Division for Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to encourage Slovenian opposition to Russia's recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia (reftel A). She said that she was surprised that Medvedev did not even "wait one week" after the Duma's vote, but that Slovenia and other EU member states are united in opposition to Russia's decision. ¶2. (C) Filip-Slivnik said that finding consensus within the EU on how to move forward, however, would be more difficult than a common rejection of Medvedev's announcement. Similar to the August 26th comments of Ales Balut, FM Rupel's Chief of Staff (reftel B),Filip-Slivnik acknowledged that EU dependence on Russia--for both its natural gas and its significant market for EU exports--complicated relations. Any disruption of either gas flows to Europe or exports to Russia would be "a catastrophe." Because Slovenia is not as dependent on Russia for gas as some other EU member states, it runs a trade surplus with Russia of approximately 200 million euros. "We're pragmatic," she said, describing Slovenia's businesslike relations with Russia as well as its strong support for Georgia. GHAFARI