NATO-RUSSIA COUNCIL DISCUSSES TERRORISM, RUSSIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USNATO 000077 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/18/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL NATO RS SUBJECT: NATO-RUSSIA COUNCIL DISCUSSES TERRORISM, RUSSIAN MILITARY DOCTRINE, AND MISSILE DEFENSE Classified By: Political Advisor Kelly Degnan for reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The NATO-Russia Council (NRC) continued its Joint Review of security challenges with a February 12 discussion on terrorism. NRC members proposed examining a wide range of topics, leading some to caution against casting too wide a net for this initiative. The U.S. proposed focusing on areas of practical cooperation such as combined counter-terrorism exercises and Russian involvement in NATO's Operation Active Endeavor. Russia complained that some Allies refused to extradite suspected terrorists to Russia, and asked for assistance in preparing security for the Sochi Olympics. Russian Ambassador Rogozin agreed to Ambassador Daalder's request that Russia provide the NRC a briefing on its new Military Doctrine, but asked that the U.S. provide a briefing on its doctrine in return. Rogozin also asked for more information on the threats the proposed U.S. Missile Defense system was intended to address, leading Ambassador Daalder to point out that the U.S. and Russia were presently engaged in a Joint Threat Assessment that looked at this precise issue. End Summary. Joint Review Discussion on Terrorism -------------- ¶2. (C) NATO Secretary General Rasmussen continued the NRC's Joint Review of 21st Century Common Security Challenges with a February 12 Ambassadorial discussion on terrorism. The SecGen proposed that the NRC examine several topics: terrorist propaganda, radicalization and recruitment, safe havens and governance issues, terrorist tactics, resources and equipment, lessons learned from operations, improved international cooperation, and threats to critical infrastructure. Allies mentioned a host of other topics to explore, including terrorist recruitment, the socio-economic background of terrorists, preventing terrorists from obtaining WMD, terrorists' use of the internet, how terrorists adapt to counter-terrorism efforts, and terrorists' links with organized crime. ¶3. (C) Several Allies cautioned against widening the scope of the discussion too far and noted a need to avoid duplicating the efforts of other international fora. The Dutch and French PermReps thought that the Joint Review should be more structured and focus on analyzing terrorists threats before moving on to methods to tackle these threats. Italy noted that counter-terrorism cooperation required sharing intelligence, which was problematic in the NRC. Poland called for enhancing the NRC's Cooperative Airspace Initiative by expanding this air-security project to neighboring countries such as Finland and Ukraine. ¶4. (C) Ambassador Daalder stressed the need to focus on issues that could lead to practical NATO-Russia cooperation. He suggested that the NRC Joint Review provided an opportunity to explore holding combined Special Forces counter-terrorism exercises and examine previous Russian participation in NATO's Operation Active Endeavor (OAE) with the aim of a future Russian role. This proposal received strong Allied support, and Russian Ambassador Rogozin said that Russia did not object in principle to future participation in OAE. ¶5. (C) Rogozin gave a long, unfocused overview of Russian views on terrorism and proposed that the NRC examine many of the same issues mentioned by the SecGen and Allies. He raised Russian concern with Afghan narcotics, the spread of extremism from Afghanistan to Central Asia, and reiterated Russian interest in retaining UNSCR 1267 sanctions on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Rogozin noted the different views Russia and some Allies had regarding terrorism in the North Caucasus and complained that Allies failed to extradite suspected terrorists to Russia. He said Russia was interested in learning from Canada about its security preparations for the Vancouver Olympics in advance of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. The Canadian PermRep responded that he expected Canada would provide this information to Russia. ¶6. (C) The SecGen concluded the discussion by tasking the NRC Counter-Terrorism Working Group to examine the proposed topics more thoroughly. USNATO 00000077 002 OF 002 Russian Military Doctrine -------------- ¶7. (C) Ambassador Daalder asked that Russia provide the NRC a briefing on its new Military Doctrine at a future meeting. He noted that Russia did not consult with the NRC before releasing this document on February 5, just days before former Secretary Albright arrived in Moscow for a discussions on NATO's Strategic Concept. The SecGen agreed with the Ambassador on the value of a briefing, adding that he had raised his concerns about the Russian document with Foreign Minister Lavrov during the Munich Security Conference. Allies supported the U.S. proposal for a briefing. ¶8. (C) Rogozin said Russia was not opposed to providing a briefing, which would help counter misinformation in the media. In return, he asked that Russia receive a briefing on U.S. military doctrine. The SecGen scheduled the Russian briefing for March 24. Missile Defense -------------- ¶9. (C) The Romanian PermRep addressed the recent announcement that Romania would be the site of elements of the U.S. Missile Defense system, adding that Romania hoped this would become part of a NATO system and was open to cooperating with Russia on MD. He noted that Rogozin had commented previously that a MD system intended to counter Iranian missiles was better suited to Southeastern Europe than to Central Europe. ¶10. (C) Rogozin responded that deploying a MD system should be a last resort to countering Iran. He proposed a comprehensive review of missile threats, questioned the logic of the U.S. plans for MD, and asked for more information on the threats it was intended to address. Ambassador Daalder responded that the U.S. and Russia were already engaged in intensive discussions on this issue as part of their Joint Threat Assessment. He looked forward to the next Joint Review discussion that would include missile threats, and hoped this would lead to NATO-Russia cooperation on MD. HEFFERN