VZCZCXYZ0005
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLJ #0382 1571100
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 061100Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5885
INFO RUEHXP/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 0081

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000382 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
USNATO (LOOK, LAURENDEAU), S/CT, EUR/RPM, USOSCE, EUR/NCE 
(SADLE), EUR (VOLKER) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/06/2017 
TAGS: KCFE NATO PARM PREL
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: UNIFIED NATO POSITION IS TOP PRIORITY 
FOR CFE EXTRAORDINARY CONFERENCE 
 
REF: A. SECSTATE 77371 
     ¶B. SECSTATE 75293 
     ¶C. LJUBLJANA 312 
     ¶D. LJUBLJANA 344 
 
Classified By: COM for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) PolMilOff delivered reftel a points to the Ministry of 
Foreign Affairs' Security Policy Department staffer Andrej 
Slapnicar who will represent the GOS at the High Level Task 
Force meeting in Brussels June 7.  Slapnicar thanked 
PolMilOff for the points, the explanation of USG views, and 
the continuing engagement of the USG on this issue, noting 
that the MFA has yet to hear from the Russians on the topic. 
He said Slovenia regrets the fact that "it came to this," 
noting that the Slovenes are still trying to figure out the 
reason for Russia's recent actions and its "threat" to freeze 
membership in the CFE (particularly given Slovenia's 
understanding that this is not an option according to the 
treaty). 
 
¶2. (C) Slapnicar reaffirmed that while Slovenia is not a 
party to the CFE (and therefore will not be represented at 
the CFE Extraordinary Conference in Vienna next week) it is 
closely following the issue and continues to see the CFE as 
the cornerstone of European security policy.  In response to 
the point that it may be helpful for Slovenia to reaffirm its 
desire to join the Adapted CFE Treaty, Slapnicar said the MFA 
would take this under consideration, noting that the GOS has 
repeatedly stated its intent to join the Adapted CFE Treaty 
to the Russians at "all levels." 
 
¶3. (C) Slapnicar said that Slovenia's top priority is a 
unified NATO position on the issue and that Slovenia will 
strongly advocate for unity despite the fact that there are 
some diverging views within the alliance on how to approach 
Russia.  He said that it is very important that the 
atmosphere of the meeting next week is about "dialogue 
between the parties, not confrontation," and that this 
dialogue continues beyond the meeting. 
 
¶4. (C) Slapnicar noted that Russia seems to be strangely 
overlooking Slovenia in its current statements regarding CFE. 
 He repeated comments about Russian President Putin referring 
to Slovakia instead of Slovenia (reftel c) when referencing 
NATO countries that Russia would like to see become parties 
to CFE and then pointed out that the Russian Note Verbale 
explicitly mentions the three Baltic states in point six but 
does not mention Slovenia.  He said the MFA was unsure 
whether this was intentional or unintentional on Russia's 
part. 
 
¶5. (SBU) On the sides of the discussion, Slapnicar commented 
on his attendance at the May 31 - June 1 OSCE 
Counterterrorism Conference (reftel d) noting that it was an 
interesting discussion -- despite OSCE's lack of coordinating 
authority on the topic -- but that, most importantly, it was 
good to see U.S. and Russia cooperating on this topic and 
engaging in constructive dialogue. 
 
¶6. (C) COMMENT.  Slapnicar and the MFA are clearly receptive 
to USG views on this issue and very appreciative of USG 
efforts to keep Slovenia informed.  He said he is eagerly 
awaiting USG proposals on elements for a final document and 
would be pleased to hear any additional insight the USG has 
on Russia's behavior and intent regarding CFE.  Slovenia is 
likely to follow the USG lead during CFE discussions at NATO. 
 END COMMENT. 
ROBERTSON