VZCZCXRO3013
OO RUEHDBU
DE RUEHMO #9415 2401451
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281451Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1245
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 009415 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2016 
TAGS: PREL MD UP BO RS
SUBJECT: DFM KARASIN ON UPCOMING RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC EFFORTS 
IN THE CIS 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador William J. Burns.  Reason 1.4 (b, d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  After DFM Karasin briefed Friends of Georgia 
Chiefs of Mission August 28 (Septel), he met with Ambassador 
Burns bilaterally.  They discussed upcoming travel and 
visits.  Karasin favors an end October-early November date 
for his own meetings in Washington.  Karasin briefed on 
Russian diplomatic activity with Moldova, Ukraine and 
Belarus.  End Summary. 
 
Visits 
------ 
 
¶2. (C) Following up on the preceding session with the Friends 
of Georgia, Karasin noted that DFM Denisov will soon visit 
Tbilisi to pay a courtesy call on his new opposite number DFM 
Chechelashvili.  Karasin said he may visit Tbilisi in 
September or October.  Karasin expects to visit Almaty in 
mid-September for a meeting of Russia's ambassadors in 
Central Asia, and may also visit Astana and/or Bishkek for 
talks with government officials.  Karasin said he might also 
visit Chisinau in late September. 
 
¶3. (C) Ambassador said Washington is eager to schedule a 
Karasin visit, and Karasin said the very end of October or 
first days of November looked good, if convenient for 
Washington. 
 
Moldova 
------- 
 
¶4. (C) After Karasin inquiries on Lebanon and Iran, the 
Ambassador asked about the August 8 visit of Moldovan 
President Voronin.  Karasin replied that Putin was happier 
with this last visit than with previous ones.  Putin wants to 
make the bilateral relationship more transparent.  On 
Transnistria, there is some movement on papers and exchanges 
of ideas, though none of them are very new.  Ambassadors 
Kenyaikin and Nesterushkin were leaving for Chisinau that day 
to consult on what new movement could produce on Transnistria 
in working with Moldova and Ukraine. 
 
¶5. (C) Karasin said he was not sure why his European and 
American colleagues were so nervous about the planned 
September 17 referendum in Transnistria.  It was no more or 
less than a plebiscite for Smirnov.  The "general scenery" 
would be no different September 18.  Voronin had not been 
much concerned with it when he visited.  "Life will go on," 
Karasin said. 
 
¶6. (C) Karasin stressed that in all the conflicts (Comment: 
i.e., Abkhazia, about which he had just been talking to the 
Friends, and South Ossetia.  End comment) Russia wanted to 
make the sides understand and trust one another.  Russia was 
just there to assist and put the sides together; but the 
sides themselves had to decide their own future.  Thus, he 
added, all ideas to enlarge the circle of negotiations (read: 
 include more Western participants) were "only an imitation 
of activity" that could decide nothing.  Ambassador responded 
that if there were actual progress in the negotiations, there 
would be less temptation for others to get involved. 
 
Ukraine 
------- 
 
¶7. (C) Karasin responded to the Ambassador's question on 
Ukraine by calling the new PM's visit "productive." 
Yanukovich had asked down-to-earth, practical questions, 
though the answers were not always what he wanted to hear. 
The Bilateral Commission planned to pull all the 
subcommittees together in September and October to facilitate 
a meeting of the Economic Committee, headed by the Prime 
Ministers, by the end of the year.  No decision has yet been 
taken on whether Putin will head the Russian delegation to 
the Babi Yar commemorations in Ukraine. 
 
Belarus 
------- 
 
¶8. (C) Karasin said there was little new on Belarus.  Russia 
continues to insist on bringing market prices to the energy 
sector.  There might be exceptions from time to time, but the 
logic was there.  The Union Treaty was not on the immediate 
agenda, though perhaps there might be some discussion on the 
"joint government" in October. 
BURNS