NATO-GEORGIA NAC APRIL 28: INTENSIFIED ENGAGEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USNATO 000156 NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/29/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL NATO GG SUBJECT: NATO-GEORGIA NAC APRIL 28: INTENSIFIED ENGAGEMENT AND RUSSIA'S THREAT TO PEACE Classified By: Ambassador Victoria Nuland for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C/NF) In the spirit of NATO,s new "Intensive Engagement" with Tbilisi, Georgian Special Envoy David Bakradze discussed Russian provocations over the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia with NATO Permanent Representatives. Reiterating Georgia,s commitment to democratic reforms, Bakradze said Georgia would make full use of the Intensive Engagement framework in the run up to the NATO December Foreign Ministerial where Allies will discuss whether to invite Georgia to begin the Membership Action Plan process. Ambassador Nuland welcomed Bakradze's timely presentation, reminding Allies that NATO had just reiterated its commitment to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity at Bucharest and urging Georgia to ensure its upcoming parliamentary elections are "the cleanest in its history." Every Allied representative intervened along similar lines - agreeing on Bakradze's assessment of the threat, if not yet on offering a membership track to Georgia. Bakradze endorsed the Ambassador's suggestion that the international community could facilitate talks between Tbilisi and the separatist regime in Abkhazia on the basis of Georgian President Saakashvili's peace plan. END SUMMARY More Russian Provocations... -------------- ¶2. (C/NF) In the spirit of NATO,s new "Intensive Engagement" with Tbilisi, Georgian Special Envoy David Bakradze and NATO Permanent Representatives discussed Russian provocations over the breakaway provinces of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Stressing that Georgia's intention was "not to import our problem into NATO," Bakradze said he wanted to alert PermReps to "a creeping threat to peace and to consult with you as to how such a threat can be averted." Bakradze said that Russia was attempting to block Tbilisi,s NATO membership ambitions by undermining Allies' faith in Georgia's stability. In particular, he said that Moscow's establishment of official links to the regimes in separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia posed a "direct threat to our sovereignty and territorial integrity." He then drew PermReps' attention to the dramatic escalation of Russian provocations since the Bucharest Summit, judging that "clearly, Russia interpreted the outcome as a cue to accelerate its creeping annexation of Georgia's territory." He specifically cited the following examples of Russian provocations: - Russia's March 6 withdrawal from a 1996 CIS agreement prohibiting military cooperation with the separatists; - President Putin's April 4 letters to the leaders in Abkhazia and in South Ossetia, addressing them as "presidents" and promising practical Russian support; - Putin's April 16 instruction to establish direct legal, trade, economic, social, educational and cultural ties with the separatist regimes; and - the April 20 downing of an unarmed Georgian UAV in Georgian airspace. ... Threatening Georgia's Integrity... -------------- ¶3. (C/NF) Bakradze zeroed in on Putin's April 16 decree as being the first time that a foreign state formally acknowledged the legal authority of the regimes in Sukhumi and Tskhinvali. He discounted Russia's claim to be pursuing humanitarian objectives by noting that that kind of assistance to the separatist regions had never been restricted, and dismissed Russia's concern for "compatriots" there as resulting from "passportization" and the "ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of peaceful citizens" of non-Russian origin. Bakradze thanked NATO Secretary General de Hoop Scheffer for the strong statement he had made calling on Russia to reverse the April 16 decree. He also stressed Georgia's peaceful and restrained approach to the situation, summarizing President Saakashvili,s offer of full autonomy to Abkhazia. ... While Georgia Focuses on Engagement -------------- USNATO 00000156 002 OF 003 ¶4. (C/NF) Bakradze also took the opportunity to reiterate Georgia's commitment to the path of democratic reforms and eventual Alliance membership. He promised to make full use of the new Intensive Engagement process in the run up to NATO,s December Foreign Ministerial - where he made clear he hoped Allies would reach a positive decision to extend the Membership Action Plan (MAP) to Georgia. He argued that the Intensive Engagement should enhance Georgia's existing Intensified Dialogue (ID) and Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP),proposed establishing a NATO Liaison Office and a NATO Information and Documentation Center in Tbilisi, and invited PermReps to visit Tbilisi. Noting that Georgia will host a GUAM Summit (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) in July which will tax local logistic and administrative capacity, Bakradze said Tbilisi would prefer the PermReps to visit in September. Following the meeting, the Georgians explained to us privately that beside their GUAM commitments, they thought a September visit by the NAC would maximize its impact on the Allied MAP decision in December. Ambassador Reiterates U.S. Support -------------- ¶5. (C/NF) Ambassador Nuland welcomed Bakradze's positive response to the Bucharest invitation to "intensive engagement" and said that Georgia's May 21 parliamentary elections should be the cleanest in its history to demonstrate its commitment to Western values. She noted that NATO Heads of State and Government had reiterated their commitment to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity in Bucharest. Responding to a weak (German-drafted) NATO International Military Staff assessment that an Abkhazian jet had likely shot down the Georgian drone, the Ambassador underscored the U.S. conclusion that the aircraft was a MiG-29, and presumably Russian. She informed PermReps that the Secretary had met with Bakradze days earlier and shared his deep concern about Russia's actions. The April 16 decree and the April 20 shoot-down escalated tensions, contradicted the spirit of the UN Friends process, and could destabilize the entire region. She added that Russia's actions also called into question Russia's role as a facilitator and peacekeeper in the region. She praised Georgia's restraint and urged it to press ahead with its peace proposals, and asked whether there might be a role for the international community to facilitate direct dialogue between Tbilisi and the Abkhaz. Allies Agree on the Threat - If Not on MAP -------------- ¶6. (C/NF) The other 25 Allied PermReps took the floor to echo the same themes. Even France and Germany, the Allies most wary of putting Georgia on a membership track, expressed concern about Russia's actions and support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity. They, along with the UK, drew attention to their joint April 23 statement with the U.S. at the United Nations. Visegrad countries pointed to their own statement issued April 23 in Prague calling Russia's actions "unacceptable" and praising Georgia's restraint in the face of those provocations. Several Allies also reinforced U.S. calls on Moscow to retract its links with the separatists, and supported our intention to raise the issue in the NATO-Russia Council. Allies called for pursuing Intensive Engagement at all levels, including the full implementation of Georgia's ID and IPAP. Finally, some said they would respond positively to Georgian diplomatic notes inviting Allied experts to review the video footage and radar tracks recording Russia's shooting down of its UAV. Bakradze Concludes: Annexation Almost In Place -------------- -- ¶7. (C/NF) Responding to a range of questions, Bakradze called the Bucharest Declaration "a strategic victory, but a tactical defeat," as it had not brought Georgia into MAP, opening a "grey area" for Russia to exploit Allies' concerns about potential separatist conflicts. He said that Russia had already achieved "the three components for annexation:" offering citizenship to the population, opening official state-like ties, and deploying military forces on the ground. He pointed to three Russian statements contemplating the use of force to "protect" the "compatriots" in those regions. In closing, he endorsed Ambassador Nuland's suggestion of an international facilitating role for peace talks. USNATO 00000156 003 OF 003 NULAND