UNSC-ZIMBABWE: RUSSIA PROMISES VETO, CHINA CLAIMS

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000619 SIPDIS DEPT FOR IO, AF E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/11/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UNSC ZI SUBJECT: UNSC-ZIMBABWE: RUSSIA PROMISES VETO, CHINA CLAIMS NO INSTRUCTIONS REF: A. USUN 604 ¶B. USUN 610 Classified By: Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, for reasons 1.4 b/d. ¶1. (C) In a meeting convened by the UK on July 11, Russian PermRep Churkin announced to the P5 that Russia had finally received instructions on the U.S.-backed Zimbabwe sanctions resolution. Russia was prepared to engage in negotiations on the basis of the "former South African text" reported in Reftel A (NOTAL),but does not support the current sanctions resolution and will vote against. When pressed by the UK and France on Russian willingness to negotiate, Churkin clarified that the Russian government "does not accept the principle of a sanctions resolution at this time" and is not prepared to negotiate on the basis of the U.S. draft. ¶2. (C) Chinese PermRep Wang told the group that he had not yet received instructions, and that he would prefer to postpone Council action on the resolution until Saturday, July 12 as it was already midnight in Beijing. Wang mentioned the possibility that he might not appear for the vote in the event that he did not receive instructions. ¶3. (C) Ambassador Khalilzad stated that his instructions remained to call for a vote today. The UK and France expressed their openness to negotiations to address Russian views, but conceded that there was no sense in pressing the point if Russia had instructions not to engage on the text. ¶4. (C) Immediately following the P5 meeting, P3 PermReps huddled to discuss strategy in moving toward a vote. It was agreed that the French would contact Burkina Faso in an attempt to shore up their support without alarming them. (NOTE: Council colleagues continue to express fears that Burkina Faso will not vote for the resolution if they know it will be vetoed. In this case, the resolution would fail due to a lack of votes rather than Russia's promised veto. END NOTE.) The UK undertook to contact South Africa, Libya and Indonesia to encourage abstentions rather than "no" votes, where possible, while the U.S. agreed to contact China and Vietnam. ¶5. (C) Ambassador Khalilzad then met one-on-one with Chinese PermRep Wang. Wang said that immediately following the G8 Summit he received instructions to abstain, but that he had recently come under a great deal of pressure from the Russians and South Africans to vote "no" on the resolution. Wang said that South African PermRep Kumalo had approached him to pass a personal request from President Mbeki that China veto the resolution. Khalilzad