VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNO #0140/01 0611818
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
P 021818Z MAR 07
FM USMISSION USNATO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0570
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 5658

S E C R E T USNATO 000140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/17 
TAGS: NATO PREL RU
SUBJECT: NATO-RUSSIA: ALLIES STILL GRAPPLING WITH MEANING 
OF PUTIN SPEECH AT MUNICH 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Victoria Nuland for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (S/NF) Allied PermReps and the Russian Ambassador sought 
to clear the air from the Munich Conference in the Feb. 28 
NATO-Russia Council (NRC).  The Russian delegation has stated 
repeatedly that Putin's speech in Munich gives us a road-map 
for future frank discussions at the NRC.  Poland, UK, and 
Canada disputed Putin's assessment of U.S. unilateralism, 
while Hungary and Greece seemed to agree that Putin's speech 
has re-energized the NRC.  Ambassador Nuland warned that 
Putin's speech created false enemies; we have moved well 
beyond this in the NRC.  Allies advanced most of the ideas 
from the joint German/U.S. food-for-thought paper on 
potential areas of cooperation as the way forward in the NRC. 
 End summary. 
 
¶2. (S/NF) Under the heading "the strategic context of 
NATO-Russia relations today," Allied PermReps and the Russian 
Ambassador discussed Putin's speech from the February Munich 
Security Conference in the February 28 NATO-Russia Council. 
In a prior February 27 Away Day discussion of Russia among 
the 26 Allies, the majority of PermReps expressed a 
reasonable understanding of the political dynamics ongoing in 
Moscow.  However, roughly a third of them still hold to the 
"let's not rock the boat" approach to Russia.  Ambassador 
Nuland pointed out to Allies that it is not desirable to let 
the United States always play the role of goalie and that 
other PermReps have to stand up to Russian bullying when it 
is merited.  We should cooperate with the Russia in the NRC 
when we can, but not shy away from a frank discussion where 
we must. 
 
----------------------------------- 
Tongue-in-Cheek Lost in Translation 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (S/NF) During the NRC meeting, the UK, Polish, and 
Canadian PermReps forcefully rebuked the Russian Federation 
for singling out the United States in President Putin's 
Munich speech.  The UK objected to Putin's assessment saying 
we are not moving to a unipolar world; quite the contrary, he 
said, the world is becoming more and more multipolar.  He 
cited China and India as examples.  Poland encouraged Russia 
to move beyond the outdated zero-sum view and to seek a 
win/win approach to common problems and projects. 
 
¶4. (S/NF) Offering tongue-in-cheek praise, the German PermRep 
said the NRC political dialogue lacked openness and Putin's 
speech removed taboos.  He encouraged an open dialogue in the 
NRC with no taboo subjects, and then, proceeded to seek NRC 
discussions on a number of areas sensitive to the Russians. 
Specifically, Germany wanted to know the basis for Putin's 
assessment that the current strategic balance was impaired. 
Furthermore, he asked what more Allies could do to be 
transparent on enlargement and what concrete Russian 
interests does enlargement violate.  He said Allies are 
addressing Russian concerns about U.S. plans to deploy 
missile defense in Europe, even though the system is directed 
at Iranian missile threat; likewise, Russia must realize that 
the Russian arms sales to Iran and training of Iranian 
nuclear scientists in Russia increases Allies' anxiety. 
Finally, Germany as well as France sought more transparency 
on the new Russian military doctrine that allegedly 
identifies NATO as a threat. 
 
¶5. (S/NF) The Hungarian PermRep thanked President Putin for 
giving the NRC a dose of motivation to open up more 
substantial dialogue in the NRC.  The Greek PermRep and 
Russian Ambassador picked up on the Hungarian comments and 
also praised Putin's speech as constructive.  Privately, the 
Hungarian delegation subsequently clarified that their 
Ambassador's praise of Putin's speech was meant as a joke, 
but, unfortunately, his stone-faced presentation had not 
given this impression. 
 
------------------------- 
WIN/WIN OR ZERO-SUM GAME? 
------------------------- 
 
¶6. (S/NF) Russian Ambassador Totskiy said he was glad Putin's 
speech had energized the NRC.  He claimed "expansion of NATO 
was not a priority question for Russia," but clarified that 
President Putin told the SYG in their October 2006 meeting 
that Russia could not understand why NATO would put pressure 
on partners to join the Alliance (i.e., Ukraine).  This would 
not lead to stability.  On CFE, Totskiy is still worried 
 
about U.S. deployments in Bulgaria and Romania, and said the 
Alliance is constantly creating new demands regarding the 
Istanbul Commitments.  He said there will be bloodshed in 
Transnistria if Russian peacekeepers are removed without an 
alternative.  Ambassador Totskiy stated the Russians are 
considering different ideas on their military doctrine, 
including logistics reforms and structures in their military 
academies, but the process will require 2-3 more years to 
develop.  The new military doctrine would be built on a new 
concept of national security.  Out of the blue, Totksiy 
condemned the recent Chinese test to destroy a satellite in 
space. 
 
¶7. (S/NF) Ambassador Nuland took issue with Hungary's and 
Russia's characterization of the Munich speech as 
"re-energizing," noting its zero-sum philosophy was contrary 
to the win/win spirit we all worked so hard to achieve in the 
NRC.  The United States is ready to move forward with 
practical cooperation and frank political discussion in the 
NRC, and it is up to Russia to make a strategic choice on the 
NRC's future.  The NRC has done a good job of addressing the 
common threats from terrorism, proliferation, and WMD, but 
more must be done on cooperation on Afghanistan, missile 
defense, and peacekeeping.  To enhance peacekeeping 
inter-operability, SOFA ratification is a prerequisite; this 
would also reaffirm Russian commitment to the NRC.  The 
Ambassador said Russia is the only country at this table 
still building missiles, and she encouraged them to consider 
missile defense instead. She stated the Allies are prepared 
to ratify the adapted CFE the moment Russia withdraws its 
troops from countries that do not want them there.  Lastly, 
she underscored the minimal U.S. presence associated with our 
basing agreements with Romania and Bulgaria. 
 
¶8. (S/NF) In a lively discussion, Allies seized most of the 
ideas from the joint German/U.S. food-for-thought paper on 
deliverables for the NRC anniversaries.  Many Allies 
encouraged Russia to be more open to frank discussions in the 
NRC on topics such as energy security or the separatist 
conflicts, and encouraged deeper practical cooperation on 
counter-narcotics, Theater Missile Defense, support to ISAF, 
and equipment to the ANA.  Canada also proposed cooperation 
in the Arctic on areas such as oil-spill response and search 
and rescue. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶9. (S/NF) The NRC discussion on Putin's speech was a lively 
and mostly useful debate -- Germany and France found courage; 
UK, Canada, and Poland found heart; but Hungary opened up an 
unfortunate line on Putin's speech. Moreover, Spain and 
Greece still are afraid to step up to the plate in the NRC. 
End comment. 
NULAND