RUSSIAN RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON UN CONFERENCE ON

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001336 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR IO/EDA BALLARD AND EEB/IFD/ODF MONAHAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAID ECON EFIN UNGA SUBJECT: RUSSIAN RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE ON UN CONFERENCE ON DEVELOPMENT IMPACT OF CRISIS REF: STATE 50892 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Econoff delivered reftel demarche on May 21 to Alexander Pankin, Deputy Director, Multilateral Organizations Department, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Pankin noted that a number of countries, including Russia, had difficulties with the text presented by General Assembly President Escobar. He indicated that, while Russia wanted to have a successful outcome for the conference, they shared many of our concerns and look forward to working with us in New York in an effort to find an outcome that is acceptable to all. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) Econoff met with Alexander Pankin, currently Deputy Director of the Multilateral Organizations Department of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Pankin indicated that Russia shared many of our concerns regarding the Escobar text, including the length of the document, the references to creating new institutions with unclear or overlapping mandates, and the divisive nature of a number of the proposals. ¶3. (SBU) Pankin noted that some of the issues were on their way to being resolved with the introduction of a third negotiating text, which he described as a merger between the facilitators' text and that of the President of the General Assembly. According to Pankin, the new text will still require considerable negotiation, but provides a more realist basis for discussion. In his view, the negotiations would go on during much of the period prior to the conference itself, but he noted that the GOR did not want talks to spill over into the conference itself and involve ministers. While Pankin was realistic about the possibility that side negotiations might continue at the working level during the conference, he stressed the point that Russia does not want the ministerial conversations to be hijacked by negotiations on problematic proposals, many of which have been around in one form or another for years. The Russians would view such an outcome as a failure of the process. ¶4. (SBU) According to Pankin, Russian delegates from the Mission in New York will conduct the negotiations, based on guidance from the Foreign Ministry. One of the mid-level diplomats from Moscow may fly out to New York next week to assist, should the talks bog down, but generally the Russians plan to negotiate with the team they already have in place. While Russia's delegation to the conference will be headed by Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the Russian position in this type of UN negotiations is determined by the Foreign Ministry, with only general guidance from other Ministries. ¶5. (SBU) Comment. Pankin is an experienced UN negotiator, having worked at the Russian Missions in New York and Geneva prior to his current posting. As a veteran of such discussions, he has a pragmatic view of the possible outcome. He expects the negotiations to be contentious and long, but to come to an acceptable, if messy, conclusion in the end. He also expects that, while Russia and the U.S. will differ on some points, we will have more in common than not and will likely work together in New York to tame down some of the more radical ideas presented in the Escobar paper. End Comment. BEYRLE