FSC APRIL 23: RUSSIANS BRANDISH "BLACKLIST" OF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000111

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, SCA/CEN,
SCA/RA, PM/WRA
JCS FOR J5
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI)
NSC FOR DOWLEY
USUN FOR LEGAL, POL
CENTCOM FOR CCJ5-C, POLAD
UNVIE FOR AC
GENEVA FOR CD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL OSCE KCFE XG
SUBJECT: FSC APRIL 23: RUSSIANS BRANDISH "BLACKLIST" OF
VD99 VIOLATORS, UK AND OTHERS ASK FOR WIDER INVESTIGATION

REF: STATE 39501


1. (SBU) Summary: Russia protested it did not want to be a
mentor to participating States who may have violated the
Vienna Document timelines for requesting inspections or
evaluations, but other delegations asked the CPC to broaden
the scope of the inquiry into violations. Several states
have confessed they are on Russia's list, including the UK,
which then countered by asking for a wider inquiry going back
a year or two. Russia also blasted pS who failed to make
timely request for transit visas for Vienna Document
inspections or who provide erroneous applications. Serbia,
Russia, and the U.S. again rehearsed their positions on
possible U.S. defense cooperation with Kosovo.


2. (SBU) The draft decision to amend the OSCE MANPADS export
control principles is only one country, Belarus, away from
consensus. Germany intends to issue a revision of its Vienna
document "quota race" proposal, but is not expecting rapid
adoption of any decision. The latest and now condensed
version of the Small Arms and Light Weapons Points of Contact
decision gained wide support. The chair intends to leave the
survey of suggestions from the 2008 Annual Implementation
Assessment Meeting on the working group agenda, although she
gave the usual caveat that it was the exclusive prerogative
of pS to turn the suggestions into proposals for the Forum's
adoption. Russia applauded her decision. End Summary.

Kosovo Defense Cooperation: Round Three
--------------


3. (SBU) Serbia (Zaric) announced it too could not accept the
U.S. decision that Kosovo was eligible for defense
cooperation as Kosovo was not an independent state but still
a province of Serbia (FSC.DEL/79/08). Zaric added that the
Ahtisaari plan, referenced in the U.S. intervention at the
April 16 FSC, was not accepted by the UN Security Council.


4. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) replied by referring
delegations to its April 16 FSC statement (FSC.JOUR/548
Annex) and April 3 Permanent Council statement
(PC.DEL/245/08). The statements, Neighbour said, are still
valid and did not need to be repeated.


5. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) reported it had sent the April 16
U.S. intervention to Moscow and studied it carefully.
Ulyanov charged the U.S. remarks failed to address the
Russian points on the UN Security Council resolutions or the
OSCE norms, instead dealing only in generalizations. Ulyanov
repeated his earlier claim that UNSCR 1367 contained
provisions that still limit military assistance to Kosovo.

Russia Foments Public Confessions
--------------


6. (SBU) Russia circulated a proposal for a chair's statement
on violations of the timelines for requesting Vienna Document
inspections or evaluations (paras 85 and 112) after
describing at the April 16 FSC a list of 31 violators of the
timelines in the last three months (FSC.DEL/75/08). Several
states--Turkey, Germany, and the UK--admitted they were on
what some half-seriously called the "blacklist" and agreed
that more effort should be made to comply with the timelines.
The UK (Gare),however, then asserted that a wider survey,
perhaps going back a year or two, would help the Forum

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determine if the recent spate of violations was just that or
part of a longer trend. Gare has separately told the U.S.
that her research indicates Russia is a conspicuous violator
of the timelines. (Comment: These Russian violations
presumably occurred over the longer time frame Gare
references. End comment.) Gare also noted that most of the
31 violations were "quite close" to the timelines, only a few
hours or a day out, the more egregious offenders forming a
"much smaller group." While Turkey and Ukraine reported they
were consulting with capitals, Slovakia, Germany, and the
U.S. (Silberberg) opposed a chair's statement as unnecessary,
while supporting continued discussion of the matter at the
FSC.


7. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) replied that his draft chair's
statement need not be adopted. It was intended to draw
attention to the problem; perhaps assurances from pS that
they will comply with the timelines will have the same
effect. However, he asserted, it was time "to end this
irregularity." Even a day, referring to Gare's observation
that most of the violators were just a day outside the
timelines, makes a difference, he scolded. He asked the
chair to request the Conflict Prevention Center (CPC) to
compile a list of violations during 2007.


8. (SBU) The CPC (Martyniuk and Kytomaki) is willing to
compile the data, although it noted it is already available
in the CPC annual and quarterly reports, albeit without the
names of violating pS. The CPC could produce a survey of
violations from 2002 without much difficulty. While most
delegations said they would support an extended study with or
without names of violators, Luxembourg and France argued
against a "name and blame" exercise. Canada questioned why
names of the countries should be hidden. The chair (Kaldas)
announced she would refrain from tasking the CPC until
delegations could continue the discussion at the next working
group on April 30.

Russia Wants Timely and Correct Transit Visa Requests
-------------- --------------


9. (SBU) Russia (Uskov) complained under Any Other Business
about late requests for transit visas from pS seeking to
transit Russia en route to another pS to be inspected under
the Vienna Document. Uskov said the visa must be requested
no later than ten days before the date of entry into Russia.
Applications are to be made through Russian embassies or with
the assistance of the Russian verification center. Russia
reports a problem, too, with erroneous data on visa
applications. Finland then thanked Russia for honoring its
late request for transit visas to perform a Vienna Document
inspection in Tajikistan.

AIAM Survey of Suggestions
--------------


10. (SBU) In a reprise of previous chairs' efforts to
stimulate discussion in the working group, the chair (Kaldas,
Estonia) invited comment on the survey of suggestions from
the 2008 Annual Implementation Assessment Meeting
(FSC.AIAM/25/08/Corr.1). She warned that it remained the
responsibility of delegations to turn the suggestions into
Food-for-Thought papers and draft decisions. Russia
(Ulyanov),supporting the chair's announcement that the list
will remain on the working group agenda indefinitely,

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recalled it had last year proposed a line-by-line assessment
of the AIAM survey to whittle out the worthwhile ideas.
(Comment: There was at the time little enthusiasm for the
Russian approach. End comment.)

Vienna Document Quota Race
--------------


11. (SBU) Belarus noted that the German proposal for
meliorating the effect of the Vienna Document "quota race"
(FSC.DEL/51.08) would curtail the passive quota of pS. The
proposal would also reduce the element of surprise in the
announcement of inspections and evaluations. Pavlov was
skeptical that the proposal would actually resolve the
problem of the quota race, and recommended further discussion
of bilateral agreements and voluntary measures. Germany
(Schweizer) welcomed further comment and will prepare a
revision shortly. Referring to the chair's decision to keep
the AIAM survey on the working group agenda, Schweizer noted
the quota race proposal began as a suggestion at the AIAM.


12. (SBU) Separately, Schweizer told the U.S. (Silberberg)
that the proposal was meant to stimulate discussion of the
problem but probably would not reach consensus in its present
version. Schweizer said the paper reflected Germany's belief
that Russian demands for consideration of new measures in the
Forum had to be met with something other than mere refusal.
He acknowledged that the paper would not eliminate the quota
race. The U.S. is discussing with Schweizer its concerns
over the proposal per reftel.

MANPADS
--------------


13. (SBU) The draft decision amending the OSCE MANPADS export
control principles to include recent changes to the Wassenaar
Arrangement elements apparently lacks only agreement from
Belarus, awaiting instructions, before it can be referred to
the plenary (FSC.DD/5/08).

Illicit Air Trafficking of SALW
--------------


14. (SBU) France (Fournier) announced it and co-sponsor
Belgium would wait until May 7 for additional comments before
it prepared a revision of the draft decision calling for a
questionnaire and Best Practice Guide on national regulation
of air transport of SALW (FSC.DEL/62/08).

SALW Points of Contact
--------------


15. (SBU) Denmark revised the draft decision for SALW Points
of Contact in light of German and others' comments on an
earlier version. The latest version describes a "directory"
vice a "network" or "system" and includes a simplified
"annex" of provisions in place of the earlier "terms of
reference." There is wide support for the latest version
(FSC.DD/2/08/Rev.1). USDEL intends to join consensus at the
next working group on April 30 unless otherwise instructed.

Working Group B's 300th
--------------


16. (SBU) The chair (Kaldas) announced that Working Group B

USOSCE 00000111 004 OF 004


was meeting for the 300th time. In response to her question,
retired Italian Air Force Brigadier Pierpaolo Tempesta, now
representing the Holy See, admitted he had also attended the
first meeting of the group.

Next Meeting
--------------


17. (U) The FSC will meet again on April 30.
SCOTT