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P 301500Z OCT 08
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INFO RUCNCFE/CONVENTIONAL ARMED FORCES IN EUROPE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1686
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAE
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
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RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC//XONP//
RUEADWD/DA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L USOSCE 000263 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/RPM 
NSC FOR HAYES 
JCS FOR J5/COL NORWOOD 
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018 
TAGS: KCFE OSCE PARM PREL RS
SUBJECT: CFE/JCG: GEORGIA/RUSSIA SPAR OVER ISTANBUL, ALLIES 
PILE-ON RUSSIA OVER NON-COMPLIANCE 
 
Classified By: Chief Arms Control Delegate Hugh Neighbour, 
for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  At the October 28 JCG, Georgia delivered 
a long statement detailing para by para Russia's failure to 
fulfill many of its Istanbul commitments.  Russia denied the 
accusations, accused Georgia of the same, and declared 
Gudauta was no longer an issue since it now belongs to 
Abkhazia.  The U.S. called out Russia on its failure to 
provide data on its forces at Kushchevskaya as of October 1, 
¶2008.  Germany and Norway protested the recent Russian 
refusals of their request for CFE inspections.  Allies 
piled-on Russia for its non-compliance.  Turkey, Norway, 
France, the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Romania, 
Moldova, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Georgia 
voiced their support for the U.S. and/or Germany/Norway's 
interventions.  All expressed their concern that Russian 
non-compliance was damaging the Treaty and called on Russia 
to return to full implementation.  Additionally, Russia 
rebuffed the Chair's suggestion to cancel the November 4 and 
11 JCG meetings.  Russia asserted that the JCG should 
continue "substantive dialogue" on CFE issues.  The JCG 
decided that there would be no JCG Chairman Letter to the 
Ministerial Council this year.  End Summary. 
 
Russia...Afraid of Commitments? 
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¶2.  (SBU)  The Joint Consultative Group (JCG) met on October 
28 under the Chairmanship of Portugal (Barata).  As promised 
during the last JCG meeting, Georgia (Giorgadze) delivered a 
long statement detailing para by para Russia's failure to 
fulfill many of its Istanbul commitments.  Giorgadze admitted 
that Russia had reduced, in a timely manner, the amount of 
Treaty Limited Equipment (TLE) within the territory of 
Georgia per the Joint Statement of the Russian Federation and 
Georgia of November 17, 1999.  He also conceded that Russia 
had fulfilled the obligation to withdraw or dismantle the TLE 
located at Vaziani and at the repair facilities in Tbilisi, 
and had closed the Vaziani base. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  However, Giorgadze said that Russia had not 
completely withdrawn from Gudauta and that it had not legally 
transferred the military base to the Georgian authorities. 
The Georgian rep lamented that his country had done its part 
to facilitate Russian withdrawal from Gudauta, but Russia 
stopped the complete withdrawal because it wanted to use the 
military installation for a CIS (Commonwealth of Independent 
States) peacekeeping mission.  Giorgadze alleged that Russia 
had maintained combat forces on the base and had used Gudauta 
in support of their recent invasion of Georgia.  Finally, 
Giorgadze charged Russia with violating the preamble and 
articles of the CFE Treaty as well as universal norms and 
international agreements by invading and occupying Georgian 
territory.  Additional details of Georgia's statement can be 
found in the journal of the JCG Plenary. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  Russia (Ulyanov) countered that Georgia had not 
lived up to the agreement by not setting up an anti-terrorist 
center in Batumi.  This failure led Russia to distrust 
Georgian motives.  Ulyanov warned that he would respond to 
the Georgian statement in detail at a future meeting.  He 
reiterated his well-known mantra that Russia did not violate 
provisions of the CFE Treaty but had exercised its rights 
under UN Article 51 to defend civilians and Russian peace 
keeping forces in South Ossetia.  Ulyanov commented that 
Gudauta was no longer an issue since it now belongs to the 
Republic of Abkhazia. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  The U.S. (Neighbour) voiced support for the 
Georgian statement.  Neighbour commented that Russia's 
continued "suspension" of its implementation of the CFE 
Treaty and its actions in Georgia are inconsistent with core 
principles upon which the Treaty is built.  He said States 
Parties needed to resolve outstanding issues that would allow 
 
for the Adapted CFE Treaty to enter into force and that 
respect for the principle of host nation consent is a 
critical element of any resolution.  Both the UK and France 
offered their support to Georgia and agreed with Neighbour's 
intervention. 
 
Kushchevskaya Data...Beating Up the Bear 
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¶6.  (SBU)  The U.S. (Neighbour) called out Russia on its 
failure to provide information on its forces at the 
Kushchevskaya base in the Treaty's flank area, as of October 
1, 2008.  Neighbour said exchange of data was important for 
Treaty verification and Russia's failure to provide the 
information as required by the Final Document of the First 
Review Conference was an act of non-compliance with the CFE 
Treaty.  Russian non-compliance was not helpful in preserving 
the long-term viability of the CFE regime or bringing about a 
resolution to the current impasse.  Neighbour urged the 
Russian Federation to resume Treaty implementation and work 
with other CFE States to create the conditions that will 
enable all States Parties to ratify the Adapted CFE Treaty. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Turkey, Norway, the UK, Romania, Moldova, Czech 
Republic, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Germany, and Georgia expressed 
their support to the U.S. statement.  They noted the 
importance of data exchange, in particular the data on 
Kushchevskaya military base.  The delegations were concerned 
that Russian non-compliance was damaging the Treaty and 
called on Russia to return to full implementation. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Russia (Ulyanov) was surprised that States Parties 
had "illusions" of the return of the flank regime.  Ulyanov 
said flank limitation was discriminatory towards Russia and 
that it was not coming back.  He then accused the U.S. of not 
doing enough to resolve the current impasse.  Ulyanov claimed 
that since the Madrid Ministerial, there had only been three 
short bilateral meetings to discuss the CFE issue.  Ulyanov 
said States Parties must stop "dragging their feet" in 
ratifying the Adapted Treaty and he called on all JCG 
colleagues to take a more "substantive stand." 
 
Inspection Refusals...When It Rains...It Pours 
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¶9.  (SBU)  Germany and Norway announced that Russia had 
recently refused their requests for CFE inspections.  Both 
had hoped Russia would use the inspection opportunities to 
send a positive signal on Treaty implementation.  Both 
regretted Russia's actions and called on the Russian 
Federation to return to full implementation of the CFE 
Treaty.  In its statement, Germany (Schweizer) announced that 
it plans to continue exercising its Treaty inspection rights 
even in the face of Russian refusal.  Referring to the NAC 
statement on March 28 and April 3, Schweizer reminded Russia 
that NATO supports the parallel actions package and that it 
was the way to resolve the current impasse. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  In quick succession, Allies fired off rapid 
interventions in support the German and Norwegian statements. 
 Luxembourg, Turkey, Netherlands, Romania, France, Czech 
Republic, Italy, and the U.S. all voiced their support. 
 
Suspend Implementation...But Don't Break My Rice Bowl 
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¶11.  (SBU)  Under any other business, the JCG Chair returned 
to last week's suggestion to cancel the November 4 and 11 JCG 
Plenary due to scheduling conflict with two arms control 
seminars.  Citing today's "substantive" discussion, Russia 
refused to agree to the cancellation of the two meetings. 
Ulyanov suggested that the JCG be moved to a Monday and that 
delegations should schedule their travel to allow for JCG 
attendance.  Germany, the UK and the U.S. agreed that 
dialogue was beneficial, but the cancellations would not 
 
impact the discussion.  Russia refused to budge and as a 
result the JCG will meet on November 4 and 11.  On the 
margin, the UK delegation informed USDEL that it plans to 
send its most junior officer to the meeting with instructions 
to block any substantive action. 
 
No Letter Again... 
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¶12.  (SBU)  As coordinated in the JCG-T plus 4, the Chair 
(Portugal, Barata) announced to the Plenary that informal 
consultations with several States Parties had lead to the 
conclusion that there would be no agreed text on a JCG 
Chairman's letter to the Ministerial Council (MC).  As a 
result, Barata suggested that to avoid wasting time and 
effort the JCG would not submit a letter to the MC.  There 
was consensus in the Plenary for the Chair's suggestion. 
 
JCG-T Plus 4...Let's Not Waste Our Time 
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¶13.   (C)  At the JCG-T plus 4 on 27 October, Allies focused 
their discussion on the JCG letter to the Ministerial 
Council.  Portugal informed Allies that during recent 
consultations, Georgia revealed that it would not agree to 
any JCG letter without explicit language pertaining to 
Russia's violation of the CFE Treaty during the recent 
Russian/Georgian conflict.  In the preliminary discussion on 
the two versions formulated by Allies and a paragraph 
proposed by Russia, USDEL highlighted the importance of 
referring to the Istanbul commitments in the letter.  With no 
potential textual consensus in the JCG because of Georgian 
position, the UK, U.S., Germany, Romania, Luxembourg, and 
Turkey voiced support for "killing" the letter.  Allies 
agreed that there would be no JCG letter to the Ministerial 
Council. 
 
Next Meeting 
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¶14.  (U)  The next JCG Plenary will be on November 4 under 
the Chairmanship of Portugal. 
FINLEY