Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09USNATO156
2009-04-21 16:53:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Mission USNATO
Cable title:  

NATO EXERCISES IN GEORGIA - THE FACTS

Tags:  PREL MARR NATO MOPS GG RU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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FM USMISSION USNATO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2886
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ALMATY IMMEDIATE 5315
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA IMMEDIATE
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW IMMEDIATE 6322
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI IMMEDIATE 5746
RUEHYE/AMEMBASSY YEREVAN IMMEDIATE 0071
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C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000156 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO MOPS GG RU
SUBJECT: NATO EXERCISES IN GEORGIA - THE FACTS

Classified By: Ambassador Kurt Volker
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)
C O N F I D E N T I A L USNATO 000156

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2018
TAGS: PREL MARR NATO MOPS GG RU
SUBJECT: NATO EXERCISES IN GEORGIA - THE FACTS

Classified By: Ambassador Kurt Volker
for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

1.(C) Summary: This cable provides details of planning and
preparation for Exercises Cooperative Longbow and Cooperative
Lancer 2009, which are scheduled to take place between May 6
and June 1 near Tbilisi. The information provided shows that
Russia was well aware of planning for this exercise in
Georgia from its inception, that Russia could have become a
participant in this exercise, and that Russian claims that
the exercises will have a destabilizing influence are
baseless. In a discussion among NATO PermReps on April 21,
Allies uniformly rejected Russian assertions that such a
long-planned PfP peacekeeping exercise was provocative, and
agreed the exercise should go forward as planned. Secretary
General de Hoop Scheffer told Ambassador Volker privately
that he sees Russian complaints as aimed at testing whether
NATO will indeed push back on Russia seeking to assert a
sphere of influence over Georgia. End summary.

TIMELINE, RUSSIAN AWARENESS
--------------

2.(C) Planning for Exercises Cooperative Longbow and
Cooperative Lancer 09 began on July 13, 2007. Georgia offered
to host on March 5, 2008 and SHAPE accepted the offer on
April 14, 2008. Russia, as a Partnership for Peace (PfP)
Partner, was invited to all exercise related events,
including the exercise planning conferences. Invitations to
all PfP members were sent on July 2, 2008 (Initial Planning
Conference),December 4, 2008 (Main Planning Conference),and
February 2, 2009 (Final Coordination Conference).

3.(C) The Russia-Georgia crisis in August 2008 led to a
change in planning for these exercises. The initial planning
conference was to have taken place in Tbilisi from September
23-25, but was moved to Izmir, Turkey from November 17-21,

2008. The Main Planning Conference took place on January
19-23, 2009, and the Final Coordination Conference took place
on March 16-19, 2009 in Tbilisi. Several NATO HQs, Georgia,
and 13 other Non-NATO and 7 NATO nations participated. At
the Final Planning Conference the number of nations attending
as full participants was fixed, and all subsequent documents

were sent only to those nations participating in the
conference.

PURPOSE
--------------

4.(C) Both Exercises Longbow and Lancer are aimed at
improving interoperability between NATO and Partner
countries. The scenario is based on a UN-mandated NATO-Led
Peace Support Operation in support of a UN Security Council
Resolution. Cooperative Longbow will be a command post
exercise focused on training NATO staff skills and procedures
for crisis response operations at the multinational brigade
level. Cooperative Lancer will be a field training exercise
to train on UN mandated peace-support operations at the
battalion level. They will take place at Vaziani training
area, 20 kilometers east of Tbilisi.

PARTICIPATION
--------------

5.(C) Nineteen nations are scheduled to participate: Albania,
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Croatia,
Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Moldova,
Serbia, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UAE, the UK, Ukraine. and
the United States. Contrary to press information, the Kazakh
mission to NATO on April 21 briefed the NATO International
Staff that Kazakhstan has not/not withdrawn from these
exercises. They reported that their latest conversations with
Astana indicated that the Ministry of Defense would like to
pull out but the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would like to
explore the issue further before a decision is made. They
also explained that Russia had requested Kazakhstan pull out
of the exercise, indicating that Russia had made a similar
request of the Armenians.

6.(C) Lists of the total numbers of participants vary, but
the best information available to USNATO at present is that
Cooperative Longbow will feature 50 Allied personnel, 69 PfP
personnel, and 7 from the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative
(ICI),for a total of 126 personnel from contributing
nations. Additionally NATO commands will supply 108 staff to
the Longbow exercise. Cooperative Lancer will feature 81
Allied personnel, 243 PfP personnel, and 36 from ICI, for a
total of 360 personnel from contributing nations. There will
be 61 additional NATO staff assigned to Lancer (Note: The
NATO International Staff has ordered another count, but we do
not know when that figure will be ready. For purposes of
comparison, Russia retains over 7,000 troops on Georgian
territory in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. End note).

RUSSIAN PROTEST, NATO RESPONSE
--------------

7.(C) In response to Russian Ambassador Rogozin's objections
to the exercises in the press, NATO Spokesman James
Appathurai has already said there are no plans to cancel. On
April 20 Appathurai briefed the press that, as far as NATO is
concerned, nothing has changed. The meeting of CHODs will
take place and Russia is invited, and preparations for the
exercise continue. "Russia has been fully informed as a NATO
partner of the preparations for this exercise for a year and
should recognize that it poses no threat to stability in the
region"

8.(C) On April 20 the Secretary General received a letter
(which he said was back-dated to April 16th) from Russian
Ambassador to NATO Rogozin requesting cancellation of the
exercise. Begin Text:

Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to NATO
Brussels

Dear Secretary General,

We have become aware of the fact that NATO is planning to
conduct multinational exercises "Cooperative
Lancer/Cooperative Longbow" from the 3rd of May till the 3rd
of June on the Georgian military base "Vaziani" in the
framework of NATO's Partnership for Peace programme. We
understand that these exercises had been pre-arranged long
before the August aggression by Saakashvili against South
Ossetia. Nevertheless, I deem it necessary to ask you to
cancel the aforementioned exercises.

As is well known, the situation on the border of South
Ossetia and Georgia, as in Georgia itself, is far from
stable. Any involvement of a third force in the region,
especially a military one, would become an additional
irritator for the conflicting parties and could incite their
inadequate actions. I am primarily referring to the ruling
regime in Tbilisi and its opposition. Bearing in mind the
emotional tension between the two sides, that could entail
human victims.

In this context by conducting its exercises in the conflict
zone NATO could well become responsible for, the eventual
above-mentioned consequences. It is for these reasons that I
am communicating to you my request to cancel the Alliance's
exercises "Cooperative Lancer/Cooperative Longbow". End Text.

RUSSIAN NON-PARTICIPATION IN CHODs MEETING, MAY 7
-------------- --------------

9.(C) On April 21, in a meeting of NATO-Russia Military
Representatives, Russia declined an invitation to participate
in a May 7 meeting of Chiefs of Defense. While Ambassador
Rogozin yesterday in the press linked a possible decision to
not participate in the CHODs meeting to a decision by NATO to
continue with the PfP exercise, today the Russian MilRep
specifically rejected this reason, arguing instead that
Moscow wanted to have political re-engagement, particularly
the promised NRC Foreign Ministerial, before any decisions
were taken on military-to-military cooperation.

10.(C) It is worth noting that Ambassador Rogozin had made
similar statements over the last several weeks. On March 27,
he was quoted saying that mil-mil contacts could only be
resumed after NRC Ambassadorial and Ministerial meetings.
USNATO briefed this information to the April 7 meeting of
NATO's Political Committee. Following the U.S. briefing, the
Lithuanian PermRep asked the Chairman of the Military
Committee whether he thought Russia would actually attend the
CHODs meeting if invited. When CMC replied in the
affirmative, the NAC approved the decision to go ahead with
the invitation. It is also worth noting that the Deputy
Secretary General summed up the discussion on this issue by
saying that he was in favor of "testing" the Russian
commitment to re-engagement.

ALLIED REACTIONS
--------------

11.(C) PermReps discussed the Russian protests over lunch on
April 21. All Allies argued the Russian complaints were
baseless, and that Russia had been well aware of the exercise
) including its focus on peacekeeping ) for some time.
Indeed FM Lavrov commented favorably on the 2008 version of
the exercise, which was held in Armenia. All Allies agreed
the exercise should go forward as planned, and SYG de Hoop
Scheffer later told Ambassador Volker that he saw Russian
complaints as aimed at testing whether NATO will indeed push
back on Russian efforts to assert a sphere of influence over
Georgia.
VOLKER