CFE/JCG: GEORGIA/RUSSIA SPAR OVER ISTANBUL, ALLIES

C O N F I D E N T I A L USOSCE 000263

SIPDIS

STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/RPM
NSC FOR HAYES
JCS FOR J5/COL NORWOOD
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI)

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018
TAGS: KCFE OSCE PARM PREL RS
SUBJECT: CFE/JCG: GEORGIA/RUSSIA SPAR OVER ISTANBUL, ALLIES
PILE-ON RUSSIA OVER NON-COMPLIANCE

Classified By: Chief Arms Control Delegate Hugh Neighbour,
for reasons 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: At the October 28 JCG, Georgia delivered
a long statement detailing para by para Russia's failure to
fulfill many of its Istanbul commitments. Russia denied the
accusations, accused Georgia of the same, and declared
Gudauta was no longer an issue since it now belongs to
Abkhazia. The U.S. called out Russia on its failure to
provide data on its forces at Kushchevskaya as of October 1,

2008. Germany and Norway protested the recent Russian
refusals of their request for CFE inspections. Allies
piled-on Russia for its non-compliance. Turkey, Norway,
France, the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Romania,
Moldova, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Georgia
voiced their support for the U.S. and/or Germany/Norway's
interventions. All expressed their concern that Russian
non-compliance was damaging the Treaty and called on Russia
to return to full implementation. Additionally, Russia
rebuffed the Chair's suggestion to cancel the November 4 and
11 JCG meetings. Russia asserted that the JCG should
continue "substantive dialogue" on CFE issues. The JCG
decided that there would be no JCG Chairman Letter to the
Ministerial Council this year. End Summary.

Russia...Afraid of Commitments?
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2. (SBU) The Joint Consultative Group (JCG) met on October
28 under the Chairmanship of Portugal (Barata). As promised
during the last JCG meeting, Georgia (Giorgadze) delivered a
long statement detailing para by para Russia's failure to
fulfill many of its Istanbul commitments. Giorgadze admitted
that Russia had reduced, in a timely manner, the amount of
Treaty Limited Equipment (TLE) within the territory of
Georgia per the Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and
Georgia of November 17, 1999. He also conceded that Russia
had fulfilled the obligation to withdraw or dismantle the TLE
located at Vaziani and at the repair facilities in Tbilisi,
and had closed the Vaziani base.


3. (SBU) However, Giorgadze said that Russia had not
completely withdrawn from Gudauta and that it had not legally
transferred the military base to the Georgian authorities.
The Georgian rep lamented that his country had done its part
to facilitate Russian withdrawal from Gudauta, but Russia
stopped the complete withdrawal because it wanted to use the
military installation for a CIS (Commonwealth of Independent
States) peacekeeping mission. Giorgadze alleged that Russia
had maintained combat forces on the base and had used Gudauta
in support of their recent invasion of Georgia. Finally,
Giorgadze charged Russia with violating the preamble and
articles of the CFE Treaty as well as universal norms and
international agreements by invading and occupying Georgian
territory. Additional details of Georgia's statement can be
found in the journal of the JCG Plenary.


4. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) countered that Georgia had not
lived up to the agreement by not setting up an anti-terrorist
center in Batumi. This failure led Russia to distrust
Georgian motives. Ulyanov warned that he would respond to
the Georgian statement in detail at a future meeting. He
reiterated his well-known mantra that Russia did not violate
provisions of the CFE Treaty but had exercised its rights
under UN Article 51 to defend civilians and Russian peace
keeping forces in South Ossetia. Ulyanov commented that
Gudauta was no longer an issue since it now belongs to the
Republic of Abkhazia.


5. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) voiced support for the
Georgian statement. Neighbour commented that Russia's
continued "suspension" of its implementation of the CFE
Treaty and its actions in Georgia are inconsistent with core
principles upon which the Treaty is built. He said States
Parties needed to resolve outstanding issues that would allow

for the Adapted CFE Treaty to enter into force and that
respect for the principle of host nation consent is a
critical element of any resolution. Both the UK and France
offered their support to Georgia and agreed with Neighbour's
intervention.

Kushchevskaya Data...Beating Up the Bear
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6. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) called out Russia on its
failure to provide information on its forces at the
Kushchevskaya base in the Treaty's flank area, as of October
1, 2008. Neighbour said exchange of data was important for
Treaty verification and Russia's failure to provide the
information as required by the Final Document of the First
Review Conference was an act of non-compliance with the CFE
Treaty. Russian non-compliance was not helpful in preserving
the long-term viability of the CFE regime or bringing about a
resolution to the current impasse. Neighbour urged the
Russian Federation to resume Treaty implementation and work
with other CFE States to create the conditions that will
enable all States Parties to ratify the Adapted CFE Treaty.


7. (SBU) Turkey, Norway, the UK, Romania, Moldova, Czech
Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Germany, and Georgia expressed
their support to the U.S. statement. They noted the
importance of data exchange, in particular the data on
Kushchevskaya military base. The delegations were concerned
that Russian non-compliance was damaging the Treaty and
called on Russia to return to full implementation.


8. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) was surprised that States Parties
had "illusions" of the return of the flank regime. Ulyanov
said flank limitation was discriminatory towards Russia and
that it was not coming back. He then accused the U.S. of not
doing enough to resolve the current impasse. Ulyanov claimed
that since the Madrid Ministerial, there had only been three
short bilateral meetings to discuss the CFE issue. Ulyanov
said States Parties must stop "dragging their feet" in
ratifying the Adapted Treaty and he called on all JCG
colleagues to take a more "substantive stand."

Inspection Refusals...When It Rains...It Pours
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9. (SBU) Germany and Norway announced that Russia had
recently refused their requests for CFE inspections. Both
had hoped Russia would use the inspection opportunities to
send a positive signal on Treaty implementation. Both
regretted Russia's actions and called on the Russian
Federation to return to full implementation of the CFE
Treaty. In its statement, Germany (Schweizer) announced that
it plans to continue exercising its Treaty inspection rights
even in the face of Russian refusal. Referring to the NAC
statement on March 28 and April 3, Schweizer reminded Russia
that NATO supports the parallel actions package and that it
was the way to resolve the current impasse.


10. (SBU) In quick succession, Allies fired off rapid
interventions in support the German and Norwegian statements.
Luxembourg, Turkey, Netherlands, Romania, France, Czech
Republic, Italy, and the U.S. all voiced their support.

Suspend Implementation...But Don't Break My Rice Bowl
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11. (SBU) Under any other business, the JCG Chair returned
to last week's suggestion to cancel the November 4 and 11 JCG
Plenary due to scheduling conflict with two arms control
seminars. Citing today's "substantive" discussion, Russia
refused to agree to the cancellation of the two meetings.
Ulyanov suggested that the JCG be moved to a Monday and that
delegations should schedule their travel to allow for JCG
attendance. Germany, the UK and the U.S. agreed that
dialogue was beneficial, but the cancellations would not

impact the discussion. Russia refused to budge and as a
result the JCG will meet on November 4 and 11. On the
margin, the UK delegation informed USDEL that it plans to
send its most junior officer to the meeting with instructions
to block any substantive action.

No Letter Again...
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12. (SBU) As coordinated in the JCG-T plus 4, the Chair
(Portugal, Barata) announced to the Plenary that informal
consultations with several States Parties had lead to the
conclusion that there would be no agreed text on a JCG
Chairman's letter to the Ministerial Council (MC). As a
result, Barata suggested that to avoid wasting time and
effort the JCG would not submit a letter to the MC. There
was consensus in the Plenary for the Chair's suggestion.

JCG-T Plus 4...Let's Not Waste Our Time
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13. (C) At the JCG-T plus 4 on 27 October, Allies focused
their discussion on the JCG letter to the Ministerial
Council. Portugal informed Allies that during recent
consultations, Georgia revealed that it would not agree to
any JCG letter without explicit language pertaining to
Russia's violation of the CFE Treaty during the recent
Russian/Georgian conflict. In the preliminary discussion on
the two versions formulated by Allies and a paragraph
proposed by Russia, USDEL highlighted the importance of
referring to the Istanbul commitments in the letter. With no
potential textual consensus in the JCG because of Georgian
position, the UK, U.S., Germany, Romania, Luxembourg, and
Turkey voiced support for "killing" the letter. Allies
agreed that there would be no JCG letter to the Ministerial
Council.

Next Meeting
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14. (U) The next JCG Plenary will be on November 4 under
the Chairmanship of Portugal.
FINLEY