VZCZCXRO9059
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHVB #0737 3511204
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 171204Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9742
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000737 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL HR ECON
SUBJECT: Zagreb Daily Report - December 17, 2009 
 
¶1. (SBU) ICTY reviews Croatia's cooperation: A Croatian delegation, 
led by Ministry of Justice Director General Gordan Markotic and 
members of the GoC task force investigating the missing artillery 
documents in the Gotovina case, appeared before the ICTY trial 
chamber on December 16 for a hearing.  The hearing was on the status 
of the ICTY prosecutor's request, which reportedly originally 
covered some 158 documents. After considerable time trying to go 
through the list of documents, Presiding Judge Alphonse Orie 
requested that the parties meet outside of a formal court session 
(but with one or more judges present) to continue going through the 
list. A key focus will presumably be the list of 23 key documents at 
the center of the GoC investigation.  At the conclusion of the 
hearing, Judge Orie said he does not expect to issue a decision on 
Croatia's compliance with the court order until after the holiday 
recess.  ICTY's Zagreb representative told us he was pleased with 
the outcome of the December 16 proceedings.  He added that he was 
hopeful that, in the end, Brammertz would come to the view that the 
Croatians are acting in good faith and are doing their best to find 
the documents. 
 
2.(U) Russian Ambassador discusses South Stream with President 
Mesic: On December16, following up on his Dec. 14-15 visit to 
Moscow, President Mesic met in Zagreb with the Russian Ambassador to 
Croatia, Robert Markaryan.  According to a statement from Mesic's 
office, Ambassador Markaryan noted that due to Croatia's hesitation 
about the project, the South Stream gas pipeline would not go 
through Croatia.  However, Croatia could have an interconnector to 
the pipeline through either Serbia or Hungary.  This proposal would 
be on the agenda for discussion during PM Kosor's expected visit to 
Moscow sometime in the first few months of 2010. 
 
¶3. (U) Croatian Government delays purchase of INA natural gas 
division from Hungarian MOL: The Government of Croatia (GoC) on 
December 16 signed an agreement with Hungary's MOL, the biggest 
shareholder in Croatia's largest oil and gas company, INA, delaying 
for one-year, to December 2010, the planned purchase by the GoC of 
INA's natural gas division.   (Note: Part of the package when MOL 
recently increased its stake in INA was that the GoC would take on 
INA's gas division and the  massive losses caused by a domestic gas 
pricing structure that forces INA to sell imported gas to Croatian 
customers below market value.)  The delay of the nationalization of 
the natural gas division means that MOL-INA will be obliged to 
supply its customers with gas for one more year; however, INA was 
also given permission from the GoC to raise gas prices 13.6%.  In a 
statement, PM Kosor told the press on Wednesday that the GoC was 
postponing the gas company purchase because of budgetary pressures. 
 
¶4. (U) Ambassador Foley Addresses Young Professionals at Croatia's 
UN Academy: Ambassador Foley was the featured speaker on a Dec. 16 
panel at the closing session of the UN Academy, an intensive 
nine-week international affairs program of study for young 
professionals organized by the Croatian UN Association.  Ambassador 
Foley spoke about the U.S. perspective on the UN Security Council, 
UN Peacekeeping Operations and the nexus between the UN and NATO in 
Afghanistan.  The Embassy financially supported the UN Academy, 
which organized weekly lectures by foreign policy practitioners. 
The closing session was covered by the Croatian Press Agency (HINA) 
and national daily, Vjesnik. 
 
¶5. (U) The two lead planners of Exercise JACKAL STONE '09 return to 
Croatia:  JACKAL STONE planners from U.S. Special Operations Command 
Europe (SOCEUR) returned to Croatia this week, and on Dec. 16 
provided the Ministry of Defense with an appraisal of Croatian 
performance during the ten-nation, month-long, Special Operations 
exercise last August and September. The remarks were well received 
by Croatia's Deputy CHOD and his staff and sparked a number of 
substantive discussions on how Croatian forces can advance their 
integration into NATO activities. 
 
6.(U) Multi-national training event proposed for 2010: On Dec. 14, 
the Embassy and the Croatian Air Force sponsored a meeting on the 
Pleso Airbase near Zagreb to explore the potential for conducting a 
multi-national training event in Spring 2010 lead by US Special 
Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) with Croatia and Hungary. This 
training event will give each country a significant night flying 
capability that is currently either limited or does not exist. The 
lack of pilots trained in night vision assisted flight has hampered 
the otherwise great success of Croatia's helicopter deployment to 
KFOR in Kosovo. Hungary, for its part, is seeking this training in 
preparation for their deployment of helicopters to ISAF as part of a 
proposed multi-national helicopter squadron. This event would be 
part of SOCEUR and the US Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) 
efforts working together in providing technical support to NATO 
Allies who are developing or improving aviation capabilities that 
could support special operations. 
 
 
FOLEY