Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MOSCOW645
2009-03-17 10:57:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:  

GEORGIAN REPRESENTATION IN MOSCOW

Tags:  PREL PGOV SW SZ RS GG 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO1495
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHMO #0645 0761057
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 171057Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2421
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 000645 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV SW SZ RS GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIAN REPRESENTATION IN MOSCOW

REF: A. TBLISI 451

B. 08 MOSCOW 2990

Classified By: Pol M/C Alice G. Wells for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 000645

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/17/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV SW SZ RS GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIAN REPRESENTATION IN MOSCOW

REF: A. TBLISI 451

B. 08 MOSCOW 2990

Classified By: Pol M/C Alice G. Wells for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Georgian Charge d'Affaires Givi Shugarov told us
March 13 that the new Georgian interest section in the Swiss
embassy opened March 5 was running smoothly (see also ref A.)
Echoing DFM Karasin's March 6 statement in Izvestia that the
GOR hoped the interest sections in Moscow and Tbilisi would
be "an entirely temporary phenomenon" and that relations
would soon return to "the state of good-neighborliness
traditional and natural for our peoples," MFA Fourth CIS
Department Director Andrey Kelin, who attended the event,
added that opening the interest sections was "the maximum of
what we can do at the moment to protect the people's
interests."


2. (C) Shugarov said the interest section enjoyed regular
contact with the MFA, but in practice did not have access to
Duma members or other branches of government. DFM Karasin
told Shugarov in a private meeting that Russia sought direct
contact with Georgia "without middlemen." Noting both PM
Putin and President Medvedev's insistence that there would be
no direct contacts with Saakashvili, Shugarov said he was
focused on promoting rapprochement through the Russian
Orthodox Church and, ultimately, through parliamentary
contacts that could be less structured or high-profile than
government-to-government meetings. Shugarov explained that
the Swiss proved more willing to play a hands-off role in
sponsoring the Georgian interest section, with Swiss
diplomats readily conceding to us that they lacked the
breadth of contacts and long professional associations
enjoyed by Georgian diplomats with their MFA counterparts.
In return, Switzerland had asked the GOG to maintain full
transparency in its operations in the section.


3. (C) Relating Russian DFM Karasin's quip that Georgia
initially did not want to go with Switzerland because it was
"too neutral," Shugarov added that during the three-month
negotiations with Sweden on running the interest section (see
also ref B),Sweden had repeatedly increased its demands.
First it had requested that a Swedish officer be stationed in
the Georgian interest section, and then asked that his
Western-European-level salary -- higher than Shugarov's own
-- be paid for out of the Georgian embassy's tight budget.
This had helped tip the scale toward Switzerland.


4. (C) Shugarov confirmed that even before the opening of
the interest section, Georgia had offered Russian citizens
the same visa services as before the outbreak of the armed
conflict, meaning that visas to Georgia could be obtained at
the embassy, at the airport, or at the border to Georgia.
The March 5 opening of the interest section had not produced
a spike in visa applications, but Shugarov side-stepped
questions on the volume of travel now seen between Georgia
and Russia.
BEYRLE