TFGGO1: RUSSIA INTRODUCES COMPETING RESOLUTION ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000754

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/20/2018
TAGS: PREL UNSC GG RS
SUBJECT: TFGGO1: RUSSIA INTRODUCES COMPETING RESOLUTION ON
GEORGIA

Classified By: Ambassador Alex Wolff for reasons 1.4(b),(d)

1.(C) The Russian Federation circulated a draft resolution on
Georgia under other matters during Security Council
consultations on August 20. The text endorses and enumerates
the six point "Sarkozy-Medvedev" plan and calls on the
parties to implement it. In circulating the text, Russian
PermRep Churkin repeated previous arguments that the
resolution tabled by the French on August 19 contained only
"1.5 elements" of the six point plan, and therefore was not
an accurate representation of the agreement. There was no
discussion of the text and Council President Belgian PermRep
Grouls gaveled the meeting to a close. See paragraph 4 for
text of the Russian draft resolution.


2. (U) After the Council meeting, Churkin told the press that
Russia had shared its draft with the French several days
earlier, and that they had not objected to it. Churkin also
said the situation in the region was beginning to normalize
and cited as an example the decision of the OSCE Permanent
Council to send up to an additional 100 observers to the
conflict zone. The 20 additional observers who would soon
arrive, he added, would be allowed into the security zone
along the South Ossetia-Georgia administrative boundary.


3. (C) In a private conversation, Churkin told Ambassador
Wolff that the Russians are not intending yet to move the
draft resolution to a vote. In response to Ambassador
Wolff's rejection of the Russian draft, Churkin said both the
French draft discussed by the Council in an open meeting on
August 19 and today's Russian draft would become unnecessary
as events evolved on the ground. Churkin also told Wolff that
French Foreign Minister Kouchner had promised Russian Foreign
Minister Lavrov that President Sarkozy's clarifications of
the 6 point agreement would not/not be included in a French
draft Security Council resolution.


4. BEGIN TEXT OF RUSSIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION:

The Security Council

Recalling all its previous relevant resolutions,


1. Endorses the following plan agreed in Moscow on August 12,
2008:

President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev and
President of the Republic of France Nicolas Sarkozy support
the following principles of resolving the conflicts and call
on the parties concerned to adhere to these principles:

a) do not resort to the use of force;

b) definitive cessation of hostilities;

c) free access to humanitarian aid;

d) withdrawal of the Georgian forces to their permanent bases;

e) withdrawal of the Russian Federation forces to the line
prior to the beginning of hostilities; pending the
establishment of international mechanisms the Russian
peacekeeping forces take additional security measures;

f) opening of international discussion of lasting security
and stability arrangements for South Ossetia and Abkhazia.


2. Calls upon the parties concerned to implement the
abovementioned plan in good faith.

END TEXT OF RUSSIAN DRAFT RESOLUTION

Khalilzad