Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08RANGOON793
2008-10-07 09:57:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Rangoon
Cable title:  

RUSSIA IN BURMA: UN ROLES; NUCLEAR COOPERATION;

Tags:  PREL PGOV SNUC UN RS BM 
pdf how-to read a cable
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P 070957Z OCT 08
FM AMEMBASSY RANGOON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8263
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1569
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 5053
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 8651
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 6220
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 0094
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 4073
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2038
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000793 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/07/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV SNUC UN RS BM
SUBJECT: RUSSIA IN BURMA: UN ROLES; NUCLEAR COOPERATION;
BILATERAL RELATIONS

Classified By: CDA Dinger; Section 1.4 (b) & (d)

Russia an interlocutor with the Burmese regime
--------------------------------------------- -
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000793

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/07/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV SNUC UN RS BM
SUBJECT: RUSSIA IN BURMA: UN ROLES; NUCLEAR COOPERATION;
BILATERAL RELATIONS

Classified By: CDA Dinger; Section 1.4 (b) & (d)

Russia an interlocutor with the Burmese regime
-------------- -

1. (C) Charge's Oct. 7 courtesy call on Russian Ambassador to
Burma Mikhail Mgeladze included discussion of current UN
efforts to influence events in Burma and a sketch of Russia's
activities in country. Many political observers in Rangoon
believe Russia has more access to influential Government of
Burma (GoB) officials than most in the diplomatic community.
Mgeladze acknowledged he has a degree of access, but he
proposed that no outside power, not Russia, certainly not
India (where Mgeladze has spent much of his career),and not
even China has the sway to influence the Burmese generals on
core security issues.

The UN and Burma: a Russian perspective
--------------

2. (C) Mgeladze reported that Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan
Win met with UN Special Representative for Burma Gambari on
the margins of the FM's visit to New York for the UNGA.
Russia understands the two discussed all five topics on
Gambari's announced agenda for Burma and achieved some
progress. Thus, Russia believes Gambari intends to return to
Burma within the next month or so to continue his mission.
Mgeladze predicts the next Gambari visit will include a
meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, if ASSK permits that, and very
possibly an appointment with Senior General Than Shwe.
Mgeladze is less confident about a visit to Burma by SYG Ban
in December, noting that public statements from New York
indicate any such SYG visit will depend on future
circumstances.

Russia lobbying GoB on UN issues
--------------

3. (C) Mgeladze said he has been raising with GoB ministers
that it is in Burma's interest to be responsive to the UN
agenda. That includes organizing internationally acceptable
elections in 2010, and allowing UN monitoring of same.
Russia has also suggested the GoB should release more
political prisoners, though Mgeladze noted the GoB claims all
current prisoners have violated various laws and, thus, are
not "political." Mgeladze said he has advocated dialogue
between the GoB and opposition elements, including ASSK; but
he added that if ASSK wants a meaningful role for herself in

Burma's political future she must accept the Burmese
military's own important political role. Mgeladze suggested
ASSK's past acknowledgment of the Burmese military's
inevitable role was "weak." Russia accepts that in Asia
political evolution is often slow, deliberate, but see that
as better than sudden movement that could easily destabilize.
Mgeladze made clear: "Russia does not want a disintegrated
Burma."

No aid, some commerce, comments on nuclear coop
-------------- --

4. (C) Mgeladze acknowledged a bilateral Russia-Burma
nuclear-cooperation agreement signed in 2006; but he said
nothing has come of it yet, since the intent - to build a
civilian nuclear-power plant similar to one Russia is
constructing in southern India - is purely a commercial deal
and the Burmese have not come up with the necessary funding.
Also, the GoB would need to negotiate an additional protocol
with the IAEA. Asked about media reports that Russia is
training thousands of Burmese in nuclear science, Mgeladze
said a program begun within the last two or three years has
provided Russian-language training to about a thousand
Burmese at a school near Mandalay. (Note: There are
suggestions that the students are young military officers,
though Mgeladze made no such mention. The "near Mandalay"
location have been an oblique reference to the Defense
Services Academy and/or the Defense Services Technical
Academy, both in Pyin Oo Lwin near Mandalay. End note.) The
students travel to Russia for tertiary studies in a range of
disciplines, "not just physics." Mgeladze implied that the
GoB funds the education, saying that Russia provides "no aid"
to Burma these days, not even humanitarian assistance.

RANGOON 00000793 002 OF 002


Russia is now "very pragmatic" when it comes to aid, and
Burma doesn't rise high enough in Moscow's calculations.
Mgeladze said that, with the demise of the Soviet Union and
economic difficulties in the 1990s, Russia halved its
diplomatic presence in Rangoon (now 11 Moscow-based) and
eliminated past cultural and aid programs. He added that
Moscow has no intention to reverse that course.

Comment
--------------

5. (C) Some Rangoon observers suggest the Burmese generals
see Russia as a potential counterweight to China, India, even
the U.S. Mgeladze observed that, after Cyclone Nargis last
May, it was obvious the generals saw American warships off
the Burma cost as an invasion threat, not a helping hand.
While Mgeladze in the conversation with Charge was very
likely under-stating the Russia-Burma relationship, it also
seems likely that, as described, Russia's interest in Burma
is relatively modest these days. The Russian embassy in
Rangoon, built in the days of the USSR, is cavernous but
appears almost eerily under-occupied.
DINGER