NATO-GEORGIA NAC JUNE 18: FM TKESHELASHVILI

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USNATO 000213

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL NATO GG
SUBJECT: NATO-GEORGIA NAC JUNE 18: FM TKESHELASHVILI
STRESSES PROGRESS ON DEMOCRATIZATION, MODERATION ON
SEPARATIST CONFLICTS

Classified By: DCM Richard G. Olson for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
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1. (C) Georgian FM Tkeshelashvili exchanged views with NATO
PermReps June 18 on Georgia's democratic transition and its
tensions with Russia. She acknowledged that the May 21
Parliamentary elections had not been perfect, but said they
had avoided the worst shortcomings that observers had
identified in the January Presidential vote, and that the
government was reaching out to the opposition and working
toward "developing a new political culture." She said that
Russia's deployment of troops into Abkhazia without any
mandate represented a dangerous step toward annexation, and
credited statements from Allies and the SecGen for bolstering
Georgia's restraint in the face of provocations. However,
nothing short of a breakthrough with Russia would turn it
from the "process of annexation" of Abkhazia that Putin had
set in motion. Allied reps acknowledged that Georgia had
made significant improvements in its electoral processes and
praised Georgia's measured response to provocations. Several
explicitly endorsed bringing it into the MAP process in
December. Most, however, cited the need for continued reform
before Georgia was ready to undertake a MAP. END SUMMARY

DEMOCRACY COMES FIRST
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2. (C) Georgian Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili met with
NATO Permanent Representatives on June 18, in Georgia's
second "NAC plus 1" since launching "intensified engagement"
with NATO at the April Bucharest Summit. She focused her
opening remarks on Georgia's determination to achieve a
pluralistic democracy. Acknowledging that the May 21
Parliamentary elections had not been perfect, she cited the
steps the government had taken to rectify the far greater
problems identified by international observers in the January
Presidential vote. It had studied ODIHR recommendations,
reorganized election Committees at all levels, trained
election officials, and revised legislation to lower
thresholds for small parties to form factions and be
represented in Parliamentary committees. The ruling party
was also engaging opposition groups to try to induce them
into a more constructive relationship. These were important
steps in meeting the challenge of "developing a new political
culture" as a mature democracy.

MULTILATERALIZE THE PEACE PROCESS?
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3. (C) After emphasizing Georgia's determination to meet
NATO's democracy and rule of law standards, she turned to the
issue at the top of most PermReps' minds -- Tbilisi's
dangerous standoff with Moscow over Abkhazia's and South
Ossetia's separatist ambitions. Russia's deployment of
railroad troops into Abkhazia had set off alarms, she said,
as the first manifestation of President Putin's April 16
decree calling for state-to-state-like relations with
Georgia's separatist regions. She said this "military
(though not combat) operation" was preparing Abkhazia's
infrastructure for conflict. It was also the first time that
Moscow had introduced Russian forces without any mandate, not
even an ostensible relation to its CIS "peacekeeping forces"
already in Abkhazia. Tkeshelashvili said that Georgia was
now engaged in intensive consultations with its friends and
partners to prevent further escalation of tensions. She
credited supportive statements from Allies and NATO Secretary
General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer for "helping our restraint" in
the face of provocations. She was also encouraged by EU High
Representative Javier Solana's reference to a potential EU
role in addressing the frozen conflicts, seeing the prospect
of multilateralization of the peace process as "changing the
dynamic in a positive way." She reaffirmed Georgia's "full
commitment to a peaceful resolution" of the conflicts.

INTENSIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH NATO
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4. (C) Tkeshelashvili looked forward to the North Atlantic
Council's visit to Tbilisi in September as a key element of
NATO,s intensive engagement, saying it would offer PermReps
the opportunity to witness the nation's evolution and reforms
first hand. Georgia's Individual Partnership Action Plan
assessment was also scheduled for September. She said that

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those two events would feature prominently in the NATO
Foreign Ministers' assessment of Georgia's readiness to begin
MAP in December. Finally, Tkeshelashvili reminded PermReps
that Georgia was punching above its weight as a contributor
to NATO-led operations. Notably, its deployment of some 300
troops to Afghanistan would begin in September.

U.S.: STAY ON TRACK TO MAP
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5. (C) U.S. DCM Olson praised Georgia's measured response to
Russian provocations and welcomed its outreach to opposition
parties that threatened to drop out of the political process.
He said that we looked forward to visiting Georgia in
September. Observing that U.S. support for a Georgia MAP was
well known, he encouraged maintaining progress on electoral
and other reforms in advance of the December NATO Foreign
Ministerial MAP assessment.

ALLIES: GOOD WORK, DO MORE
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6. (C) Twenty-three other Allied representatives (all except
Luxembourg and Slovenia) responded with more questions and
recommendations. Recognizing improvements in the electoral
process, while calling for further reforms, especially in
engaging opposition groups constructively in legislative and
governmental decision-making, was a universal theme. Another
was recognition of Georgia's restraint in the face of serious
provocations, such as its suspension of Unmanned Aerial
Vehicle flights over the separatist regions, and the need to
continue that restraint at all costs. Most also looked
forward to visiting Georgia in September, and cited elements
of the just-completed NAC visit to Ukraine that had proven
most useful to them. The Baltic and Central European Allies
made some of the most positive interventions, expressing
"broad satisfaction" with the conduct of the Parliamentary
elections and endorsing the Bucharest Summit statement that
Georgia would one day be a member of the Alliance. Romania
praised Georgia's "amazing resilience" to tests. Romania,
Canada, Slovakia and Iceland explicitly endorsed bringing it
into the MAP process in December. Canada led a chorus of
appreciation for Georgia's deployment to ISAF. Most Allies'
critical remarks were couched in terms of needing to do more
of what was already being done, although the Netherlands
asked about the status of some activists who had been beaten
and their houses searched by police. France and Germany
carefully alluded to the December Ministerial as being only
the "first" assessment of Georgia's readiness for MAP.

RUSSIA ON A "CONFLICT SPIRAL"
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7. (C) Tkeshelashvili responded briefly to all points. The
true test of elections was whether they offered citizens
freedom of choice about their government, she said, and the
answer was clearly "yes." News media had to provide the
opportunity for citizens to hear alternative views, and that
had also been provided. Tkeshelashvili said the government
was committed to engaging opposition parties in public debate
and decision-making; there, she acknowledged, it had not done
so well, although some opposition groups were prepared to be
constructive. She delivered her main punch lines on frozen
conflicts: Georgia's continued restraint had avoided
outright combat, but it was "not working" to de-escalate
tension and was not being reciprocated by Russia. She
stressed that Russian withdrawal of its non-"peacekeeping"
troops from Abkhazia, no further implementation of the April
16 declaration on the separatist regions, and Russia's
readiness to engage seriously in a peace process were
necessary steps to move forward. Instead, Moscow rejected an
international role in mediating the frozen conflicts, it
intimidated Abkhazians from negotiating directly with
Georgia, and refused to accept Georgia's ambition to join the
Alliance, putting it on "conflict spiral" with Georgia.

GEORGIA NEEDS A BREAKTHROUGH
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8. (C) Tkeshelashvili concluded that nothing but a
breakthrough with Russia could turn it from the process of
annexation of Abkhazia that Putin had set in motion. She
implied that President Medvedev might be amenable to such a
change if the West would send a strong and consistent
message. In that context, she hoped that a further NAC plus

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Georgia on the conflict situation would be held in July; that
HR Solana would work out a step-by-step approach to
de-escalate tensions when he met with President Saakashvili
on June 20; and that a Joint Statement at the NAC visit to
Georgia would serve to convince Moscow to back away from
conflict.

AFTER-ACTION DISCUSSION
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9. (C) In a follow-on lunch with Tkeshelashvili, PermReps
revealed differences in their approach to Georgia's MAP
aspirations. The U.S. and Canada, supporting MAP for Georgia
as soon as possible, traded points with some Europeans, who
could not get beyond the mantra of "continue restraint and
reform." UK Ambassador Eldon argued for an intensive peace
process with Abhazia and Russia. Tkeshelashvili said that
if ussia did not de-escalate tensions, Georgia's "optons
are limited," and that recent events demonstrated that the
CIS mandate would not restrain Russian actions. The
Netherlands rep said that the Abkhazians hold the key to
resolving the conflict; Canada's McRae suggested that Sukhumi
should be shown that "the road to Europe passes through
Tbilisi." He predicted that Russia would continue to make
provocations until Georgia gets into MAP.

NULAND