APPOINTMENT OF NEW U.S. OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 002319 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/07/2019 TAGS: PREL PGOV RS AJ SUBJECT: APPOINTMENT OF NEW U.S. OSCE MINSK GROUP CO-CHAIR REF: STATE 92194 Classified By: Acting M/C for Political Affairs David Kostelancik for r easons 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C) We met with MFA Minsk Group Counselor Yelena Kravchenko September 7 and 8 to discuss reftel announcement. Kravchenko told us Russian Co-Chair Yuri Merzlyakov remains on leave through the end of the week, but looks forward to receiving Ambassador Bradtke's phone call at his dacha. Best times to call are evenings (Moscow time) at : (plus)7 495 634 5816 (dacha land line, preferred number) or on his mobile phone (plus)7 985 766 7604. ¶2. (C) Kravchenko clarified that the Minsk Group Co-Chairs usually speak English with one another and draft all documents in English, given Merzlyakov's fluency in the language as a trained interpreter for English and French (see para 5). However, Armenian President Sargsian spoke only Russian, so meetings including him were generally conducted in Russian. ¶3. (C) Kravchenko noted that French Co-Chair Fassier had written Ambassador Bradtke and Conflicts Advisor Tim Birner letters laying out plans meet in New York or Washington, at Ambassador Bradtke's convenience, after September 20. In addition to getting acquainted, separate meetings of the Co-Chairs with the Armenian and Azerbaijan Foreign Ministers would be possible on the margins of UNGA. The Co-Chairs should also agree upon a visit to the region, possibly starting September 29, Kravchenko said. ¶4. (C) Kravchenko added that President Medvedev currently had no plans for another "2 plus 1" meeting with the Armenian and Azerbaijan Presidents. She held out that the Co-Chairs might propose that Sargsian and Azerbaijan President Aliyev meet on the margins of the upcoming CIS summit in Chisinau in October. ¶5. (C) In return for the announcement of Ambassador Bradtke's nomination, Kravchenko asked that we transmit Merzlyakov's bio to Washington for Ambassador Bradtke's perusal: Yuri N. Merzlyakov Ambassador at Large Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group on Nagorno-Karabakh Settlement Born in 1949 in Moscow. Graduated from Moscow State Institute for International Relations in 1971 and the United Nations Language Training Course, Moscow, in 1972. 1972-1977 Translator in the United Nations Secretariat, New York 1977-1979 Student of the Diplomatic Academy, Moscow 1980-1984 Second Secretary of the USSR Embassy in Burundi, Bujumbura 1984-1987 First Secretary of the USSR Embassy in Tanzania, Dar-es-Salam 1987-1990 Counselor, Chief of Section of the African Department of the USSR Foreign Ministry, Moscow 1990-1993 Minister-Counselor of the Russian Embassy in Ethiopia, Addis-Ababa 1993-1997 Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Madagascar and in the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comores Islands 1997-2000 Chief of the Working Group on the Caspian Sea, Ambassador at Large 2000-2003 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of Kazakhstan August 2003-present Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, Ambassador at Large Foreign languages: English, French, Swahili Married, father of an adult daughter Beyrle