VZCZCXRO2923
RR RUEHAST
DE RUEHVI #1551/01 1511155
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 311155Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3649
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DOJ WASHDC
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 VIENNA 001551 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR CA, EUR/ERA, EUR/PGI AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CVIS CPAS KCRM KFRD SMIG EUN AU
SUBJECT:  May 4 U.S.-Russia - EU Multi Presidency Meeting 
 
VIENNA 00001551  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary.  In the first meeting of its kind, U.S., 
Russian and EU officials met informally in Vienna May 4 to 
discuss possible areas for future cooperation in the fight 
against terrorism, organized crime and corruption, and 
illegal immigration.  The U.S. delegation was led by 
Attorney General Gonzales, accompanied by DHS Deputy 
Secretary Jackson with Russian participants including 
 
SIPDIS 
Presidential Aide Viktor Ivanov and Minister of the Interior 
Nurgaliev.  EU officials included Austrian Minister of the 
Interior Prokop and EU Commissioner Frattini, as well as 
representatives from the next four countries scheduled to 
hold the EU Council Presidency (Finland, Germany, Portugal 
and Slovenia).  After the exploratory discussions aimed at 
defining possible areas of future tripartite cooperation, 
the Parties agreed to have an expert group flesh out 
proposals, and, if warranted, the Germans have indicated a 
willingness to hold a first formal tripartite meeting during 
their January - June 2006 Presidency.  Communique from the 
meeting is contained in para 14.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Noting that the EU has been holding separate 
discussions in the area of justice and home affairs with 
both the U.S. and Russia for some time, Austrian Interior 
Minister Prokop explained that in connection with the 
implementation of the EU JHA external strategy paper adopted 
last December, it was thought that the time was right to 
meet informally in a tripartite forum with U.S. and Russian 
representatives. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Russian Presidential Aide Ivanov noted that this 
was "an unusual, but important forum" for discussion of 
global problems such as terrorism and criminal networks that 
must be combated on an international level.  He outlined 
Russian cooperation with the EU on cyber-crime and border 
security, noting that Russian internet sites have been 
attacked from both New York and Bogota in the last year.  He 
described Russian progress with biometric passports and 
urged the adoption of a common definition of terrorism. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  The Attorney General agreed that terrorism, child 
pornography and cyber-crime recognized no borders and 
required international cooperation in order to combat them 
effectively.  He specifically listed three subjects where 
international cooperation could be effective - a) organized 
crime and corruption in border areas; b) trafficking in 
persons (TIP); and c) money laundering, in particular via 
shell companies. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  EU Commissioner Frattini said that a balance had 
to be struck between providing security to citizens and the 
personal and privacy rights of those same citizens.  He 
agreed a global approach was needed and described the EU 
strategy to combat terrorism as one of prevent, protect, 
pursue and respond.   He also felt that a common definition 
of terrorism was needed in order to distinguish between 
freedom of expression and incitement.  Frattini urged the 
protection of critical infrastructure and a common fight 
against cyber-crime, in particular the protection of 
children.  He suggested that more effective use be made of 
EUROPOL and EUROJUST. 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Multi Presidency speakers congratulated the 
Austrian Presidency on its attempt to ensure continuity in 
the important fight against terrorism and organized crime, 
noting that globalization required a global coordinated 
response to these issues.  The German representative said 
the Austrian initiative constituted "the right time, the 
right topics and the right format."  He noted that it should 
not compete with G-8 or troika formats, but rather 
complement them.  He said the inclusion of the U.S. and 
Russia provided "added-value" to the discussions and called 
for the ratification of relevant international conventions. 
Finally, he underlined the need to cooperate internationally 
in order to stop Afghan drug trafficking. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  The Finnish representative welcomed the inclusion 
of Russia and described the importance of close Finnish- 
Russian cooperation on their common border.  In this regard, 
he urged more direct data exchange and suggested the EU 
establish multi-points of contact to facilitate the more 
effective exchange of data between border control posts. 
Slovenia urged greater future cooperation with Russian and 
U.S. officials and suggested that future action-oriented 
papers on issues such as child pornography and TIP be 
coordinated with the U.S. and Russia.   The Portuguese 
representative supported the proposal for an official 
 
VIENNA 00001551  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
tripartite meeting in 2007. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Russian Minister of the Interior Nurgaliev 
identified terrorism and trafficking as the primary issues 
ripe for international cooperation and urged an action- 
oriented approach. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) The Attorney General then listed three areas he 
considered appropriate for international attention by this 
group - a) the criminal and other issues resulting from the 
unstable situation on the border of Georgia and Moldova; b) 
TIP; and c) money laundering.  He suggested that an expert 
group come up with specific proposals.  Austrian Interior 
Minister Prokop agreed that a lack of border security 
encouraged organized crime and corruption and noted that the 
EU has a pilot project with Moldova and the Ukraine.  EU 
Commissioner Frattini agreed more security was needed in the 
Moldova-Georgia-Ukraine region.  He also expressed the need 
for better and more common statistics on organized crime and 
corruption. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Germany requested that Afghan drug trafficking be 
added to the list of common concerns and agreed that another 
tripartite meeting would be appropriate in a year, but only 
if it would produce concrete results. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Deputy Secretary Jackson urged that border 
security and the security of travel documents also be 
discussed at any future meeting, noting the need for more 
progress on E-passports and visas, the reporting of lost and 
stolen passports and the confiscation of fraudulent 
documents.  He urged that more detailed data be exchanged on 
lost and stolen passports. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Russian representative Ivanov  said he agreed with 
Germany that drug trafficking was a priority issue.  He 
noted that the issue of the Georgia-Moldova border was a 
sensitive one and already being addressed in the OSCE forum, 
urging that duplication of ongoing work in other for a be 
avoided.  (Comment:  The Russians were clearly irritated by 
the Attorney General's reference to the frozen conflicts 
issues on the Georgia-Moldova border.  In later 
conversations with other delegations, they claimed to be 
puzzled by the lack of consultation by the U.S. on this and 
suggested that in the future they might be forced to raise 
issues related to the U.S.-Mexican border.) 
 
¶13.  (SBU) The meeting concluded with the Austrian 
Presidency suggesting a list of joint topics to be explored 
with regard to future tripartite cooperation be included in 
the communique and proposing that an expert group should 
prepare an agenda for an official tripartite meeting in 
¶2007. 
 
¶14.  (U) There follows the agreed communiqu from the May 4 
meeting: 
 
 EU Multi-Presidency - Russian Federation - United States of 
                           America 
                Meeting at Ministerial level 
                         Communique 
                Vienna (Austria), 4 May 2006 
 
In the margin of the Vienna Ministerial Conference on 
Security Partnership, representatives of the European Union 
(EU), the Russian Federation and the United States of 
America met on 4 May 2006 in order to discuss possible 
future tripartite cooperation in the field of justice and 
home affairs. 
 
This Meeting of Ministers was chaired by Liese PROKOP, 
Federal Minister of the Interior and current President of 
the Council of the European Union (EU). 
 
The EU side also comprised Kari RAJAMAKI, Minister of the 
Interior of Finland, Peter ALTMAIER, Secretary of State, 
Federal Ministry of the Interior of Germany, Dragutin MATE, 
Minister of the Interior of Slovenia, Antonio COSTA, 
Minister of the Interior of Portugal, (representing the 
incoming Presidencies of the EU), Franco FRATTINI, Vice- 
President of the EU Commission, and Ivan BIZJAK, General 
Director of the General Secretariat of the Council of the 
European Union. The United Kingdom was represented at 
official level. 
 
The delegation of the Russian Federation was represented by 
Viktor IVANOV, Presidential Aide, Rashid NURGALIEV, Minister 
of the Interior, and Viktor KOMOGOROW, Deputy Director of 
 
VIENNA 00001551  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
the Federal Security Service. 
 
The delegation of the United States of America was 
represented by Alberto GONZALES, Attorney General, and 
Michael JACKSON, Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security. 
 
 
¶I. General Findings 
 
The participants of the meeting welcomed the first 
opportunity for a discussion of issues of common concern in 
relation to internal and homeland security between high 
officials responsible for home affairs from the EU, the 
Russian Federation and the United States. They indicated 
that this meeting could start a process towards a 
cooperative tripartite relationship in the field of justice 
and home affairs between these partners. 
 
 
II. Concept of Cooperative Relationship 
 
The EU side outlined that its Strategy for the External 
Dimension of Justice and Home Affairs calls for the 
elaboration of a partnership with third countries in the 
field of justice and home affairs, which includes 
strengthening the rule of law and promoting the respect for 
human rights and international obligations. 
 
The Russian Federation underlined its readiness to cooperate 
in a tripartite format on internal security issues and 
stressed the importance of operational cooperation. In this 
context, it noted the successful development of the EU- 
Russian cooperation on the basis of its Road Map on the 
common space of freedom, security and justice. 
 
The United States noted its extensive cooperative 
relationship with the EU on Justice and Home Affairs issues 
as well as its history of enforcement cooperation with the 
Russian Federation. 
 
The Parties stressed that the development of an area of 
enhanced freedom, security and justice can only be 
successfully achieved through relationships based on mutual 
cooperation. 
 
The participants therefore discussed the following key 
principles of a possible future "Tripartite Cooperative 
Relationship" in the field of justice and home affairs: 
 
      Willingness to work together in order to tackle common 
     threats and problems in the field of justice and home 
     affairs. 
    Efforts to make justice and home affairs a priority in 
external relations. 
    Work towards action-oriented solutions, especially in 
the fight against terrorism, transnational organised crime, 
corruption and illegal migration. 
    Applying a differentiated and flexible approach, 
including a multi-disciplinary assessment of needs. 
    Promoting the implementation of principles and norms of 
international law. 
    Recognizing the rule of law and democratic rights as 
means of bolstering security. 
    Mobilisation of operational resources to work towards 
common objectives in addressing  internal and homeland 
security issues. 
 
 
III. Special Areas for Cooperation 
 
The participants of the meeting identified the following 
special areas for possible enhanced cooperation: 
 
      Combating Terrorism: Radicalisation and Recruitment; 
     Financing; Cyberterrorism; Bringing terrorist and their 
     supporters to justice 
    Fight against Organized Crime and Corruption: Money 
: Money 
Laundering; Drug Trafficking and Trafficking in Human 
Beings; Cybercrime 
    Countering Illegal Immigration, Security of Identity 
Documents and Border Control 
 
 
IV. Conclusion 
 
Participants noted the importance of today's meeting which 
enabled for the first time Ministers responsible for home 
 
VIENNA 00001551  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
affairs from the EU, the Russian Federation and the United 
States to have an open exchange of views in relation to 
security issues. They stressed that the Vienna Initiative 
could start a process towards a "Tripartite Cooperative 
Relationship" in the field of justice and home affairs. 
 
Participants therefore indicated their willingness to work 
towards a meeting organized by the German EU-Presidency in 
the first half of 2007 to consider such a proposal.  They 
invited experts to explore the added value accomplished 
through on such a tripartite cooperation and to come forward 
with relevant recommendations. The first expert meeting in 
this context will be held in the second half of 2006. 
 
MCCAW