Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08STATE111775
2008-10-21 00:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Secretary of State
Cable title:  

(U) Secretary Rice's October 9, 2008

Tags:  MARR PREL PINS PGOV NATO CVIS LG LH EN 
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OO RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHC #1775/01 2950024
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O P 210018Z OCT 08
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUEHRA/AMEMBASSY RIGA IMMEDIATE 0735
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 7254
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 0202
EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 111775 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2028
TAGS: MARR PREL PINS PGOV NATO CVIS LG LH EN
AF, RS, GG, UP, BO, SW
SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Rice's October 9, 2008
conversation with Latvian Foreign Minister Maris
Riekstins.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 111775

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/14/2028
TAGS: MARR PREL PINS PGOV NATO CVIS LG LH EN
AF, RS, GG, UP, BO, SW
SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Rice's October 9, 2008
conversation with Latvian Foreign Minister Maris
Riekstins.


1. (U) Classified by: Dan Smith, Deputy Executive
Secretary, S/ES, Department of State. Reason 1.4 (b)
and (d)


2. (U) October 9, 2008, 9:00 - 9:30, Washington, D.C.


3. (U) Participants:

U.S.
The Secretary
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary Robert Gilchrist, EUR
Sean McCormack, PA
Carol Beilman Werner (EUR/NB Notetaker)

Latvia
Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins
Ambassador Andrejs Pildegovics
MFA Political Director Peteris Ustubs
FM's Chief of Staff Ilze Milta


4. (C) SUMMARY. The Secretary met with Latvian Foreign
Minister Maris Riekstins on October 9, 2008 at the
Department of State. Much of the meeting focused on
relations with Russia. Riekstins noted Moscow's
aggressive new foreign policy, which apparently
included using force to interfere in neighboring
countries. Secretary Rice said that Russia's invasion
of Georgia had been followed by a series of political
and economic failures for Moscow. She and Riekstins
agreed that the West needed to be united in its
response to Moscow's actions and discussed what that
response should be. Riekstins informed the Secretary
that he was going to maintain long-held plans to visit
Moscow in two weeks, noting that the visit suited
Russia's desire to demonstrate that business with the
West was developing "as usual." Riekstins promised
that Latvia would continue to help Georgia integrate
into the West, but he did not feel that the problems in
South Ossetia and Abkhazia would soon be solved. The
Secretary replied that we should not rush into a
solution since those regions were still occupied by
Russian forces; however, she was pleased with the
generous international financial support for Georgia

and hoped that foreign investment would soon return.
The Secretary and Riekstins discussed recent actions
taken by the Belarusian government to reach out to the
West and Latvia's approaching membership in the Visa
Waiver Program. The meeting concluded with Riekstins
describing the contributions that Latvia was making to
Afghanistan. END SUMMARY.

--------------
Russia
--------------

5. (C) Riekstins said that the invasion of Georgia
demonstrated Russia's readiness to use force to
interfere in neighboring countries. He asked Secretary
Rice what she thought of Russia's apparent desire to
challenge the current international system, pointing
out that the previous day Medvedev had publicly
announced that Russia needed to create a new world
order to replace the one resulting from failed U.S.
policies. The Secretary observed that recent Russian
actions had met with failure: Georgian President
Saakashvili is still in power, Russian forces in
Georgia have led to Russia's isolation from the West,
the Russian stock market is crashing, and oil prices
are falling.


6. (C) The Secretary thought that we should now step
back for a while and ensure that Europe is united on
its response to Russia. As a member of the EU and
NATO, Latvia should work for energy independence, help
Georgia and Ukraine obtain Membership Action Plans
(MAPs) at the December NATO Ministerial, and prevent
Russia from benefiting from its recognition of Abkhazia
and South Ossetia. She also wanted Russia to be made
aware of the unacceptability of using force to draw its
own lines in Europe and to "protect its citizens"
residing in other countries. Overall, such actions
have served to increase the West's mistrust of Russia.


7. (C) Riekstins agreed that unity in the Transatlantic

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SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Rice's October 9, 2008
conversation with Latvian Foreign Minister Mar
alliance was essential to prevent Russia from
succeeding with its policy of "divide and conquer." He
added that Russia's recent actions had caused
nervousness in countries of the former Soviet Union
which are not members of NATO or the EU and have
significant ethnic Russian minorities, such as Ukraine
and the Central Asian countries. He stressed that
international law, not Russian force, should be used to
protect Russian "compatriots," not Russian force.


8. (C) With respect to the Baltic States, Riekstins
said there was no feeling of hysteria about Russia and
that they were willing to focus discussions on
contingency planning in Brussels, but he pointed out
that Russian forces had been carrying out exercises
only 100 kilometers outside of Baltic territory. He
then mentioned recent and upcoming activities that
Latvia found reassuring: consultations between our
Department of Defense and the Latvian Ministry of
Defense on a possible NATO Joint Air Tactical Control
(JTAC) range in Latvia, Embassy Riga's efforts to bring
high-level visitors to Latvia from DOD and State, and
the possibility of NATO exercises in the region. As
the Secretary suggested, Latvia was working on
diversifying its sources of energy. It was looking
into an electrical cable from Sweden and was waiting
for the Department of Energy (DOE) to sign a Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with Latvia on the use of
renewable energy. The Secretary said that we would
follow up on the DOE MOU.


9. (C) Riekstins informed the Secretary that he would
be visiting Russia in two weeks. He explained that the
meeting had been arranged before the invasion of
Georgia, but that he supposed the Russians did not want
to cancel it in order to show that the invasion had not
affected "business as usual." The Secretary concurred,
saying that the Russians wanted to show they were not
isolated. However, we had to show them that they could
not do what they did in Georgia and maintain good
relations with the West. She pointed out that the
Russian Federation is different from the USSR, which
did not care what the West thought of it; less than 1%
of the USSR's GDP came from trade with the West. She
wondered what the reaction of the Russian public would
be if their access to Western consumer goods was cut
off. She said that, in contrast with Putin, Medvedev
realized that domestic discontent could be a problem
for the government. The Secretary felt that Medvedev
looked like he had little authority.


10. (C) The Secretary said that during a meeting on
Iran, she told Lavrov that Russia had failed in
Georgia. Riekstins said that he had heard that Lavrov
did not support the recognition of the independence of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The Secretary said that
the Russian MFA had been against it, with reason, as it
had hurt Russia's relations with China and stirred up
violence in potential separatist regions of Russia.


11. (C) The Secretary told Riekstins she had also asked
Lavrov why Russian bombers were in Venezuela. She told
him that arms sales to Venezuela would not threaten the
United States, but they would threaten Venezuela's
neighbors like Colombia, Brazil, Panama, and Mexico.
She said the United States would continue to cooperate
with Moscow on issues related to the Middle East, Iran,
and North Korea.

--------------
Georgia
--------------

12. (C) Riekstins said that Latvia would continue to
help Georgia integrate into the West. At the upcoming
Geneva Conference, he hoped that participants would
focus on political as well as financial support for
Georgia. The Secretary said that Georgia had been
receiving enough financial aid to be doing quite well
with its budget. In fact, she recently told Lavrov
that Russia had succeeded in making Georgia the darling
of the international community. Georgia now needed
strong signals of political support so that foreign
investors would return.


13. (C) Riekstins mentioned that the situation in South
Ossetia and Abkhazia would be debated at the GAERC on
October 13, but that he did not expect a solution to be
found in the short run. The Secretary said that we
should not rush into a solution since Russian forces
were still on the ground. We had to be certain that

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SUBJECT: (U) Secretary Rice's October 9, 2008
conversation with Latvian Foreign Minister Mar
there would be no Russian military installations or
reinforcement of forces in South Ossetia or Abkhazia.
Likewise, Gazprom should not drill there without
Georgia's approval. If that were to occur, Gazprom
would have to choose between doing business in the U.S.
and doing business in South Ossetia. Noting that the
value of Gazprom's shares had recently decreased, the
Secretary said that Lavrov had told her that Russia
would be careful of where it did business.


14. (C) The Secretary emphasized that it was important
to do nothing that would change the line between South
Ossetia and Georgia; no arrangement should be made with
OSCE monitors that could affect the border. She had
spoken to British Foreign Minister Miliband and other
EU officials about slowing down on South Ossetia. She
added that we should make it clear that in areas under
its control, Russia, not the OSCE, was responsible for
the safety of Georgian citizens.

-------------- --------------
Membership Actions Plans (MAPs) for Georgia and Ukraine
-------------- --------------

15. (C) Riekstins underlined that we had to be careful
to avoid a public clash of views among NATO members on
MAPs for Georgia and Ukraine, closely consulting with
both countries before the Ministerial. The Secretary
agreed, saying that even with new elections in Ukraine
it was unlikely there would be a change in government,
as the President and the Prime Minister each had their
own constituencies.

--------------
Belarus
--------------

16. (C) Riekstins brought up the situation in Belarus,
saying that we had witnessed recent improvements in
human rights. Lukashenko, although not a "father of
democracy", had released political prisoners and
allowed OSCE monitors during the last parliamentary
elections. He was in a tricky situation with regard to
Russia, and sought to avoid being dragged into the
Georgia crisis. The Secretary agreed and said that we
were engaging the Belarusians in discussions and that
Deputy Assistant Secretary Merkel had visited Belarus
twice in the past few months. She felt there had been
progress and realized that Lukashenko was reaching out
to the West. We are hoping for a loosening of the
restrictions so that the opposition can compete in
future elections.

--------------
Visa Waiver Program (VWP)
--------------

17. (C) Riekstins said that it looked like Latvia would
join the VWP next month. The Secretary said she was
unsure of the exact date, but agreed that Latvia would
soon be part of the program, adding that President Bush
was pleased. She asked Riekstins not to tell the press
what she had said about the VWP beyond the fact that
progress was being made toward including Latvia soon.
Riekstins agreed to her request.

--------------
Afghanistan
--------------

18. (C) The Secretary mentioned that Afghanistan had
many needs that she hoped Latvia could assist in
meeting. Riekstins replied that Latvia was sending
several dozen troops to supplement the 100 already in
Afghanistan. He then mentioned that a group of Afghan
businesswomen had visited Latvia under the auspices of
a Latvian NGO and that this NGO was going to cooperate
in building a business training center for women in
Afghanistan.
RICE