GEORGIA: MARGINAL PROGRESS ON UNOMIG NEGOTIATIONS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000580

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/09/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UNSC UNOMIG RS GG
SUBJECT: GEORGIA: MARGINAL PROGRESS ON UNOMIG NEGOTIATIONS

Classified By: Ambassador Rosemary DiCarlo for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY AND GUIDANCE REQUEST. Russian Permrep Vitaly
Churkin acknowledged to France, Germany, U.K., U.S., and
Croatia Permreps on June 9 that Russian forces would be
subject to any security regime that would serve as the basis
for a revised UNOMIG mandate. Churkin also said Russia would
not agree to provide freedom of movement for UN personnel
within the UN's area of operations. He made clear that
Russia did not consider itself to be a party to the conflict,
and would not consider itself bound by language calling on
the parties to adhere to a cease-fire or to the principle of
non-use of force. Churkin agreed to consider a German
proposal to adopt the security regime and mandate verbatim
from paragraphs 65 and 66 of the SYG's Report of May 18,

2009. Though provisional agreement was reached on some text,
no agreement was reached on the most contentious issues,
including reference to Georgia's territorial integrity, the
name of the UN mission, reference to the conflict in South
Ossetia, and the return of IDPs and refugees. The German
Mission, as coordinator of the UNOMIG resolution, agreed to
circulate a new text with disputed language bracketed, in
advance of another Permrep meeting on June 10. French and
German Permreps privately expressed concern to the U.S. about
the possibility that the mandate would not be renewed. See
paragraph 6 for guidance request. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On June 9, Permreps of Croatia, France, Germany,
Russia, U.K. and U.S. engaged in substantive negotiations
over a revised mandate for the United Nations Observer
Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG),which will expire on June 15,

2009. Russian Permrep Vitaly Churkin acknowledged that
Russian forces would be subject to the security regime that
will be included in the resolution, and which will serve as
the basis of a revised UN mandate. Churkin, however, said
that Russia did not consider itself to be a party to the
conflict, and therefore would not consider itself to be bound
by language in the resolution calling upon "parties" to
refrain from the use of force, engage in the conflict
resolution process, or to provide access to installations
within their control. Russia, he said, would also reject
language calling for the full freedom of movement of UN
personnel within their area of operations. Ambassador Rice
made clear that the United States would not accept a
resolution "at any price." She said it would be absolutely
necessary to ensure that any new UN peacekeeping mandate
include full freedom of movement for UN monitors. She also
emphasized that the resolution would need to include language
calling for the SYG to assist the conflict resolution
process, and that it could not undermine Georgia's
territorial integrity.


3. (C) Ambassador Churkin agreed to consider a suggestion
from German Permrep Tomas Matussek that the group adopt,
verbatim, the recommended security regime and mandate from
paragraphs 65 and 66 the Secretary-General's report of May
19, 2009 (S/2009/254). In this way the group would avoid
contentious and complex negotiations over the elements of the
security regime and revised UN mandate. Russia had earlier
offered several edits to the security regime outlined in para
65 of the SYG, many of which were unacceptable to the Quad.
On the other hand, the Quad had suggested several
enhancements to the mandate outlined in para 66 of the SYG's
report, several of which were unacceptable to Russia.
Permreps agreed to seek guidance from capitals on this
tradeoff.


4. (C) Churkin insisted throughout the meeting that Russia
would not accept a resolution with "UN Observer Mission in
Georgia (UNOMIG)" as the mission name. Neither would Russia
accept any reference to Georgia's sovereignty and territorial
integrity, or even an indirect reference to Georgia's
territorial integrity through a reference in a preambular
paragraph to Resolution 1808. Churkin also rejected an
operative paragraph that requests the SYG to engage with the
parties with a view to establishing a security regime in
South Ossetia, a paragraph that French Permrep Jean-Maurice
Ripert insisted was absolutely essential for the Europeans.
Churkin sought to remove an operative paragraph that
reaffirms the right of return of IDPs and refugees, but
agreed "consider positively" keeping it in, if other elements
were to be agreed.


5. (C) After the meeting, French and German Permreps both
expressed anxiety to Ambassador DiCarlo about the possibility
that the United States might be willing to let the mandate
lapse rather than accept "a mission at any price". They
emphasized that the European Union needed a UN mandate, in
order for the EU Monitoring Mission to be able to maintain
its presence on the ground. Ambassador DiCarlo stressed that
the U.S. needed to be clear with the Russians that we do will

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not compromise on issues of principle in order to maintain a
mission.


6. (C) COMMENT AND GUIDANCE REQUEST. We are unlikely to
reach agreement on a security regime and mandate if we are
unwiling to go along with a change to the mission name.
Changing the name would not cross our redlines outlined in
STATE 56222. However, the Georgian Mission has emphasized to
us that Georgia would not give consent to a UN mission that
did not contain the name "Georgia". USUN requests guidance
on whether the Georgian position is final, and if so, how the
Department wishes us to proceed. END COMMENT AND GUIDANCE
REQUEST.
RICE