VZCZCXRO8269
PP RUEHAST RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR
DE RUEHVEN #0013/01 0291521
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 291521Z JAN 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6166
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0670
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA 1225
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHDLCNE/CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1165

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 USOSCE 000013 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/CARC, 
SCA/CEN, SCA/RA, PM/WRA 
JCS FOR J-5 
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) 
NSC FOR HAYES 
USUN FOR LEGAL, POL 
EUCOM FOR J-5 
CENTCOM FOR J-5 
UNVIE FOR AC 
GENEVA FOR CD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE GG RS XG
SUBJECT: FSC JANUARY 28: RUSSIA CALLS OUT GEORGIA FOR VD99 
INSPECTION REFUSAL 
 
REF: A. STATE 7188 
     ¶B. MOSCOW 0148 
     ¶C. BALDWIN-SILBERBERG JANUARY 26 EMAIL 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Russia sharply criticized Georgia for its 
refusal of Russian requests for Vienna Document inspection 
and evaluation.  Dismissing Georgia's defense of force 
majeure as insubstantial, Russia said Georgia had only itself 
to blame for the conditions it cited in refusing the 
inspection and evaluation.  Georgia answered that it could 
hardly change the facts of the Russian invasion and 
occupation and was thus justified in refusing the requests. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The EU regretted Georgia's refusal, as did Turkey. 
The U.S. called for use of the Vienna Document to enhance 
transparency among the parties to the conflicts in Georgia. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Russia announced a presidential decree banning the 
supply of Russian arms and other military goods and service 
to Georgia.  Russia noted its concern over third-party states 
providing Soviet and Russian arms to Georgia, which countered 
by citing Russian arms transfers to separatists in South 
Ossetia and Abkhazia.  The U.S. raised the right of states to 
assist each other in maintaining their defenses. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Russia reported it still lacked guidance on the 
draft update of the Code of Conduct Questionnaire.  The U.S. 
and Azerbaijan repeated their opposition to the Russian 
proposal for a single deadline for Vienna Document defense 
planning submissions, while Germany expressed support. End 
summary. 
 
Russia Calls Out Georgia 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) Disputing Georgia's repeated assertion that it "was 
open for inspection," Russia (Ulyanov) raised Georgia's 
recent refusal of Russian requests for Vienna Document 
inspection and evaluation.  Ulyanov noted that none of the 
concerns cited by Georgia in support of its invocation of 
"force majeure" were, per the definition of found in 
FSC.DEC/6/97, "reasons which cannot be influenced by the 
receiving State."  Georgia had claimed that Russia's invasion 
of Georgia, its continuing occupation of South Ossetia 
and Abkhazia, and the possibility of further Russian attacks 
made it impossible to agree to the Russian inspection and 
evaluation.  Ulyanov dismissed Georgia's stated concern that 
the inspection and evaluation could be used to obtain 
information that would be used against it by charging Georgia 
with launching the "large-scale military activities." 
Ulyanov demanded that Georgia either comply with the request 
or offer "serious" reasons for its refusal. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Georgia retorted that its concerns fell squarely 
within the definition of force majeure: Russia's invasion, 
occupation, and continuing military threat were clearly 
conditions that "could not be influenced by the receiving 
state."  Russia's citation of the Vienna Document after its 
aggressive military actions, not to mention attempts to 
undermine European security as evidenced by its suspension of 
CFE, was cynical, Giorgadze charged.  He said any other state 
is welcome to conduct a Vienna Document inspection, noting 
that Germany, Lithuania, and Belgium had recently done so, 
 
USOSCE 00000013  002 OF 005 
 
 
and Russia will be welcome to conduct an inspection as soon 
as its forces have withdrawn from sovereign Georgian 
territory. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Giorgadze reprised earlier Georgian positions, 
including Russian violation of the six-point peace agreement 
by failure to withdraw forces to their positions prior to the 
beginning of the August 2008 conflict and Russian and South 
Ossetian separatist responsibility for ethnic cleansing in 
the occupied territories. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Giorgadze announced a January 26 MOU between Georgia 
and the EU monitoring mission on Georgian military movements 
near South Ossetia and Abkhazia.  He said the EU head of 
mission, Haber, had described the agreement as a "brave, 
unilateral move to de-escalate the conflict."  Giorgadze 
invited Russia to reciprocate with transparency on its forces 
in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Responding to Ulyanov's earlier report of Georgian 
intransigence at the Geneva talks in refusing the Russian 
suggestion of bilateral inspections of the occupied 
territories, Giorgadze said Russia misinterpreted Georgia's 
position, which does support inspections conducted by the 
parties with the relevant international organizations. 
 
¶10. (SBU) The Czech Republic (Reinohlova), on behalf of the 
EU and several other states, "regretted any refusal of 
verification activities" and called on all participating 
States to fully implement the Vienna Document (FSC.DEL/8/09). 
 
¶11. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour), per guidance (reftel A), 
reiterated its support for fulfillment of international 
commitments, including the Vienna Document, while noting the 
document does recognize force majeure as a basis for refusing 
an inspection or evaluation.  Neighbour said the U.S. 
understood the concerns of Georgia; at the same time, the 
U.S. supports greater transparency and dialogue among those 
involved in the conflicts in Georgia and Vienna Document 
inspections and evaluations are important tools for 
increasing transparency.  Neighbour urged full implementation 
of the August 12 and September 8 cease-fire package and the 
renewal of OSCE monitoring throughout the conflict area. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Turkey (Begec) said it "would have preferred a 
different outcome" to the Russian request in light of its 
preference for full compliance with international 
obligations.  Begec said an act of noncompliance could lead 
other states to falter in their compliance. 
 
¶13. (SBU) Ulyanov said Russia shared and supported the 
assessments of the EU.  He welcomed U.S. and Turkish support 
for "unconditional fulfillment" of all Vienna Document 
commitments.  This episode confirmed Russia's belief that 
participating States needed to continue efforts to improve 
the CSBMs in the Vienna Document.  He hoped there would be 
further exploration of "a UK proposal for a more precise 
definition of force majeure."  He would return to the 
subject, probably at the next meeting. 
 
¶14. (SBU) Canada (Gosal) noted that it was in fact working on 
a definition of fore majeure that it will present at the 
Annual Implementation Assessment Meeting in early March. 
 
USOSCE 00000013  003 OF 005 
 
 
 
Russian Presidential Decree Bans Arms to Georgia 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶15. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) announced a presidential decree 
that bans the transfer of military and dual-use goods to 
Georgia, "especially Soviet and Russian types available for 
export by others."  The ban also includes training and other 
services.  Ulyanov said Russia was very concerned about the 
transfer of Soviet and Russian arms by third- party states. 
Russia would take such transfers into account in its 
relations with these states.  Ulyanov repeated his assertion 
that transfers of arms and military equipment to Georgia 
violates international norms, including the OSCE Documents on 
SALW and Conventional Arms Transfers.  Ulyanov said the 
decree was partly in response to the failure of states to 
support Russia's call for an arms embargo of Georgia 
(FSC.DEL/155/08/Rev.1).  He repeated the charge that arms 
supplied to Georgia had facilitated its war of aggression 
that resulted in many civilian deaths.  NOTE:  Ulyanov did 
not specifically mention the possibility of sanctions against 
third states, as mentioned in other reports (reftel B).  End 
Note. 
 
¶16. (SBU) Georgia (Giorgadze) answered that its arms 
acquisitions violated no international norms; Georgia was 
completely transparent about its arms holdings.  Rather 
Russia, Giorgadze charged, was the violator of international 
norms, citing its invasion of Georgia and continued 
occupation of Georgian territory in and around South Ossetia 
and Abkhazia as well as its supply of arms to separatists in 
those two provinces.  Giorgadze mentioned in this context a 
recent Russian press report that Russia planned to open a 
naval base in Abkhazia. 
 
¶17. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) asserted that democratic 
states have every right to assist another democratic state in 
building and maintaining its defense forces.  Neighbour noted 
that U.S. military assistance began in 2002 partly in 
response to Russian concerns over Chechen terrorists 
operating from the Pankisi Gorge area in Georgia.  Neighbour 
referred delegations to an earlier U.S. statement in the FSC 
on arms supplies to Georgia (FSC.JOUR/564/Annex 6). 
 
Bonn International Center for Conversion 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶18. (SBU) Peter Croll of the Bonn International Center for 
Conversion (BICC) discussed its programs and publications, 
particularly on the interrelation of security and economic 
development.  BICC has done extensive work with governments, 
universities, and NGOs particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and 
Central Asia.  In responses to questions, Croll and a 
colleague recommended OSCE support for marking and tracing of 
ammunition, noting that a new U.S. administration could be 
convinced to change its policy on this initiative.  BICC 
supports the work of the 2008 Biennial Meeting of States on 
the UN Program of Action on SALW including the International 
Tracing Instrument.  BICC reports a lack of institutional 
memory at the OSCE field missions, ascribing this in part to 
preoccupation with project work at the expense of institution 
building and norm setting.  BICC also recommends greater 
cooperation among international and regional organizations in 
 
USOSCE 00000013  004 OF 005 
 
 
SALW and ammunition projects.  (FSC.DEL/5/09) 
 
CCW Protocols and Amendment 
--------------------------- 
 
¶19. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) announced the deposit of its 
instruments of ratification on the Convention on Conventional 
Weapons protocols on incendiary weapons, blinding laser 
weapons, and explosive remnants of war, as well as an 
amendment expanding the scope of the Convention to 
non-international armed conflicts. 
 
Albanian Ammunition Project Donation 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶20. (SBU) Denmark announced it was contributing 120,000 euros 
to the ammunition demilitarization project in Albania. 
 
Single Deadline for Defense Planning 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶21. (SBU) Germany announced support for the Russian proposal 
for a single deadline for Vienna Document defense planning 
submissions (FSC.DEL/494/07/Rev.4/Corr.1).  Azerbaijan and 
the U.S. reiterated their opposition to the proposal for 
failing to add value to the Document.  Russia (Ulyanov) said 
the value was in increasing the level of discipline in 
implementation of a Vienna Document commitment.  The chair 
(Simonet), wondering "how mature the proposal was," said he 
would enter into consultation with Russia and other 
interested delegations. 
 
SALW and Conventional Ammunition 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶22. (SBU) The U.S. announced the Department's Export Control 
and Related Border Security Program (EXBS) workshop on 
ammunition and dual-use brokering controls in Vienna February 
2-4.  Representatives from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, 
Montenegro, and Serbia have been invited.  Representatives 
from the Wassenaar and OSCE secretariats will address the 
workshop (ref C). 
 
Code of Conduct 
--------------- 
 
¶23. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) reported the draft update of the 
Code of Conduct Questionnaire (FSC.DD/14/08) was still under 
review by the Moscow Interagency.  Ulyanov hoped he would 
have a national position within a few weeks.  Addressing the 
concern expressed by the FSC Code coordinator (Eischer, 
Austria) and others that States may be hesitating in 
preparation of responses to the current Questionnaire, due 
April 15, Ulyanov recommended either using the current 
Questionnaire or changing the due date to June 15. 
 
¶24. (SBU) Eischer reminded that participating States had 
agreed to host at least one Code awareness raising event each 
year, like the 2008 seminar in Kazakhstan, and asked for 
suggestions for the 2009 event. 
 
Coming and Going 
---------------- 
 
USOSCE 00000013  005 OF 005 
 
 
 
¶25. (SBU) The UK announced its new head of verification, 
Colonel James Watson would attend the FSC on February 4.  The 
USDel plans to meet with Watson and the UK delegation after 
the meeting. 
 
¶26. (SBU) The chair (Lebedel) bid fulsome farewell to Elli 
Kytomaki (Finland) of the Conflict Prevention Center's FSC 
Support Unit.  She is moving to Geneva to work on the draft 
Arms Trade Treaty. 
 
Next Meeting 
------------ 
 
¶27. (SBU) The next meeting of the FSC will be on February 4 
and will include a presentation by French General Henri 
Bentegeat, chairman of the EU Military Committee, on EU 
peacekeeping operations. 
SCOTT