EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO RUSSIA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 000474

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2019
TAGS: PREL EU RS
SUBJECT: EUROPEAN COMMISSION TO RUSSIA

REF: MOSCOW 365

Classified By: Political MC Alice G. Wells for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

Summary
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1. (C) On February 6, EC President Barroso led a delegation
of nine EC commissioners and vice presidents for meetings
with counterparts in Russia. This visit was part of an
intergovernmental framework delayed since 2005, due to a
series of crises in the EU-Russia relationship. Human rights
was not on the agenda but led to a tense public exchange
between Putin and Barroso in front of the press, an exchange
built on an interpersonal disconnect. Lavrov promised to
build cooperation between the EUMM and Russian forces in
South Ossetia, but was negative on the establishment of
plenary sessions for future rounds of Geneva talks. Behind
closed doors, the GOR called for scrapping the Energy Charter
Treaty and replacing it with a new agreement. The GOR
assessed that the fact that this visit took place at all
meant that Russia-EU relations had normalized since August,
and that the political price of the gas crisis was small.
End summary.

Back in Business
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2. (SBU) On February 6, the European Commission, led by
President Jose Manuel Barroso and accompanied by EC Vice
Presidents Guenter Verheugen (Enterprise and Industry),
Jacques Barrot (Justice, Freedom, and Security),Siim Kallas
(Administrative Affairs, Audit, and Anti-Fraud),and Antonio
Tajani (Transport) and EC Commissioners Stavros Dimas
(Environment),Joaquin Almunia (Economic and Monetary
Affairs),Benita Ferrero-Waldner (External Relations and
European Neighborhood Policy),Andris Piebalgs (Energy),and
Catherine Ashton (Trade),held wide-ranging consultations
with the GOR, including meetings with President Medvedev and
PM Putin. Much of the discussion at the minister-level
covered trade and issues related to the Partnership and
Cooperation Agreement (PCA) negotiations between the EU and
Russia (reftel). The meeting between Barroso and Medvedev
focused on Georgia and energy security. The EC's visit was
memorable for the sharp public exchange between Barroso and
Putin on human rights and the rule of law. EC-Russian
consultations took place after a four-year delay (since 2005)
due to a series of crises. This latest round was to take
place in the fall, but was delayed due to the conflict in
Georgia. Both sides plan to resume this annual format, as
originally intended, with the EC to host at an unannounced
time and location next year.

Talks "Positive and Fruitful"
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3. (C) In a lunch with the Ambassador on February 9,
European Commission Head of Delegation Marc Franco described
the Barroso consultations as "positive and fruitful," despite
the public fireworks with Putin. Franco attributed Putin's
reaction to the Prime Minister's thin skin when it came to
perceptions of criticism. He contrasted Putin's approach to
Medvedev, who took the EU's private statement of concern over
the assassinations of journalists and human rights activist
Markelov on board. Medvedev agreed that Russia was
"preoccupied" with the assassinations, and said that he had
ordered the investigative agencies to get to the bottom of
the killings. Barroso's public remarks, even though there
was no direct mention of human rights, elicited steely
retorts of hypocrisy and double standards from Putin, who
charged that the EU had ignored its member states' treatment
of Russian minorities, prisoners, and migrants.


4. (C) In a meeting with us February 24, the Head of the
MFA's EU Unit Petr Plikhin was similarly upbeat, saying that
the EC's visit was a successful "restart of cross-sectoral"
dialogues. He dismissed the public spat between Barroso and
Putin as press sensationalism and not the focus of the
detailed talks. Despite interpersonal differences, Plikhin
reflected that with their economies so interdependent, Russia
and the EU were "doomed to cooperate."

It's Personal
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5. (C) The Head of the EC's Mission confirmed the widely
known personality disconnect between Putin and Barroso.
According to him, the Prime Minister views the EU
Commissioner as the "Trojan horse" of the new EU states,
whose message that "family is closer than friends" had worn
thin in Moscow. Putin's pointed remark that "some
institutions should not get in the way of the development of

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better Russia-EU relations" was interpreted as a jab at
Barroso. The gas war with Ukraine only served to inflame the
personal grievance Putin held against the Commissioner, whom
he viewed as unfairly assigning disproportionate blame on
Russia for the crisis. Without elaborating, Franco noted
that it "got personal" during Barroso's meetings with Putin
during the gas crisis. While avoiding a direct comment on
the Putin-Barroso exchange, Plikhin expressed the cautious
hope that the new commission would have a more productive
dialogue.

Georgia
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6. (C) On Georgia, Lavrov promised that a mechanism would be
created to establish contact between the EUMM and Russian
military, but Franco was uncertain whether the MFA had the
power to deliver the Ministry of Defense's participation.
Lavrov was equally enthusiastic about the creation of an
Incident Prevention Mechanism, but took a stiffer line on the
Geneva process.

Energy Security
--------------


7. (C) Medvedev publicly charged that the Energy Charter
Treaty had failed as a mechanism to prevent the recent gas
crisis with Ukraine, while in closed-door sessions the GOR
called for the treaty to be scrapped. The EU will continue
to push hard for Russian ratification, although Franco
acknowledged that Russia's real strategy was to renegotiate
chit-by-chit its way through the substance of the Charter
Treaty. The MFA's Plikhin elaborated that Russia was open to
"fixing" the Energy Charter Treaty, but it would prefer to
see a new instrument built on the Saint Petersburg
Declaration. During the press conference with Barroso, Putin
also called for EU monitors to remain in Ukraine for the rest
of the first quarter and demanded greater access for Russian
monitors. Franco argued that the gas war had a palliative
effect on the EU, with member states maintaining a common
front against what he described as Putin's "systematic
rubbishing" of Ukraine.

Comment
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8. (C) The interpersonal conflict between Putin and Barroso
aside, the GOR saw the long-delayed visit by the EC as a
normalization of EU-Russia relations after the tensions of
last August. The MFA was pleased that the gas crisis with
Ukraine in January was insufficient enough to derail the
planned meeting, an enthusiasm that may have mistakenly led
the GOR to conclude that it suffered little political fallout
from the crisis.
BEYRLE