GEORGIA: CONCERNS OVER RECOGNITION OF ABKHAZIA,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TBILISI 001643 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/01/2019 TAGS: PREL PBTS PHSA EWWT UNGA BY CT ML PU RS GG SUBJECT: GEORGIA: CONCERNS OVER RECOGNITION OF ABKHAZIA, SOUTH OSSETIA REF: A. TBILISI 0752 ¶B. TBILISI 0723 ¶C. TBILISI 1627 Classified By: Ambassador John F. Tefft for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is an action request; please see paragraph 3. ¶2. (C) Summary. Foreign Minister Grigol Vashadze called in the U.S. and UK ambassadors August 31 to request urgent assistance on two matters. First, the Georgians learned that four African countries -- Burundi, Central African Republic, Guinea-Bissau, and Mali -- are seriously considering recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the Georgians want help dissuading them from doing so. Second, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will only accept friend-of-the-court briefs on the Kosovo case till September 15, and the Georgians are worried that many briefs already filed will undermine their own claim to territorial integrity. Although the United States asked Georgia not to file any briefs on the case, Vashadze asked if that position remains the same; he also requested consultations between U.S. and Georgian legal experts on Kosovo. On the separate issue of Black Sea ship seizures, Vashadze assured both ambassadors that Georgia was taking steps to prevent ships from sailing to Abkhazia in the first place, thereby rendering seizures unnecessary -- but that in any case Georgia would not directly confront Russian escort vessels. End summary. ¶3. (C) Action request. Post requests that Department prepare responses to Georgia's request for intercession with the four African countries on the Abkhazia and South Ossetia recognition issue, and to Georgia's question about intervention on the Kosovo case. Post appreciates information provided by email regarding contact information for legal experts to consult with Georgian experts on Kosovo. End action request. AFRICAN RECOGNITION ¶4. (C) Vashadze told the ambassadors that the Georgian Embassy in Paris learned from the Quai d'Orsay that Burundi, the Central African Republic (CAR),Guinea-Bissau, and Mali were seriously considering taking the step of recognition. He considered this information quite reliable. He expressed great concern that such a step would undermine many of Georgia's diplomatic successes over the past year. He was especially concerned that Russia will orchestrate an announcement of these recognitions at the UN General Assembly, saying that such announcement would be an absolute catastrophe, especially if it occurred when President Saakashvili was in New York. He said that for Georgia and Russia, it was not at all a question of the "quality" of the recognitions, but rather the quantity. ¶5. (C) Vashadze therefore requested that both the United States and the United Kingdom do whatever they can to convince the four countries that it is much more in their interest to side with them on the recognition issue than with Russia. He assumed that the four were bought off somehow, whether by promises of assistance or outright bribes, noting that the CAR, Guinea-Bissau and Mali are among the most impoverished nations of the world. Although the Georgians have raised the issue in some European capitals already, they have no representation in Africa, and therefore will have to rely on their friends to push back against the Russian effort. He said the French have already issued urgent instructions to their embassies to demarche the four governments and repeated that Georgia would appreciate Qgovernments and repeated that Georgia would appreciate anything the U.S. and UK could do. ICJ CASE ON KOSOVO ¶6. (C) Vashadze raised the ICJ's consideration of Kosovo, noting that September 15 is the deadline for submitting friend-of-the-court briefs on the case. Noting Georgian compliance with the U.S. request not to weigh in with a brief, which the Secretary personally made to Vashadze himself at their meeting in Washington in April (refs A, B), Vashadze expressed the concern that many briefs that have been filed could undermine Georgia's own claim to territorial integrity. Although he did not have any specific information about the substance of the ICJ's eventual finding, he said that a finding that lends any support to the Russian position on Kosovo would be devastating for Georgia. He asked whether the U.S. position on Georgia's filing of a brief on the case had changed. He also requested direct consultations between U.S. and Georgian legal experts on the case to consider a way TBILISI 00001643 002 OF 002 forward. SHIP SEIZURES ¶7. (C) Ambassador Tefft raised the issue of Georgia's recent detentions of ships traveling to Abkhazia on the Black Sea, repeating his suggestion that U.S. and Georgian legal experts consult on the issue (ref C). Vashadze again welcomed the idea, but added that Georgian embassies would be demarching governments with a request that their flagged vessels avoid sending shipments to Abkhazia, thereby avoiding the need to interdict ships in the first place. He said that ships can get permission to enter Abkhaz waters by docking in Batumi or Poti and seeking official Georgian permission, and Georgia would encourage shipping companies to do just that. Furthermore, he thought that Russia's offer to escort ships -- with its inherent suggestion of possible confrontation -- would scare most commercial operators away from the trade route, which, with its low volumes of cargo, is not terribly lucrative anyway. In fact, he said one Turkish company had already indicated it would stop sending shipments to Abkhazia. Regarding the Georgian legal position, Vashadze said the ministry would be providing information about its position to all embassies. (Note: The information, emailed to EUR/CARC, arrived later that day.) ¶8. (C) In response to a question from UK Ambassador Keefe, Vashadze said that Georgian vessels would certainly not confront Russian escort ships directly. For one thing, he noted that Georgia does not have the capacity to confront imposing Russian warships. He called Russia's proposal to escort the ships "piracy," suggesting that they have no right to help vessels violate Georgia's territorial integrity and domestic laws. He added, however, that he doubts that Russia has either the ships or the money to support the ships to undertake an ecorting mission on a permanent basis. TEFFT