US embassy cable - 05MADRID992

C O N F I D E N T I A L MADRID 000992 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/15/2015 
TAGS: PREL, ZJ, RS, GG, PBTS, EUN, OSCE 
SUBJECT: SPAIN:  DEMARCHE ON GEORGIA'S BORDER MONITORING 
ORGANIZATION 
 
REF: STATE 43096 
 
Classified By: Political Officer Ricardo Zuniga for Reasons 1.4 (b) and 
 (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Charge raised the issue of a Georgia Border 
Monitoring Organization (BMO) in a March 14 discussion with 
Rafael Dezcallar, MFA Director General for Foreign Policy, 
and Josep Pons, MFA Director General of Foreign Policy for 
Europe and North America.  Dezcallar professed little 
knowledge of the issue and referred Charge to Pons to discuss 
details.  Pons told Charge that Spain is inclined to support 
broader efforts for a Georgia BMO.  Pons said that Spain was 
currently discussing the issue within the Ministry, but he 
assured Charge that Spain "does not want to let Georgia 
down."  Charge also emphasized the importance of the EU 
establishing a small mission in Tblisi.  Pons said he was 
aware of the proposal and promised to get back to Charge soon 
with details on Spain's position. 
 
2.  (C)  Poloff raised the issue with Enrique Mora Benavente, 
Head of EU Policy Planning at the MFA on March 14.  Mora 
Benavente told Poloff that because Russia had vetoed the OSCE 
BMO operation, any international presence on the Georgian 
border with Chechnya, Dagestan and Ingushetiya would have to 
be discussed with Russia.  He said that the EU is currently 
considering three options for a BMO in Georgia, including: 
(1)  Reinforcing the office of the EU Special Representative 
to the South Caucasus Heikki Talvitie; (2) Training Georgian 
officials to patrol the border; and (3) Having an EU mission 
at the border that would be a European Security and Defense 
Policy (ESDP) mission.  He said that there was widespread 
consensus in the EU for the first two options, but there was 
no consensus on the third option.  He said that the Baltic 
States, Slovakia, and Sweden were all pushing the third 
option, but he said the proposal did not have strong support 
among other EU members. 
 
3.  (C)  Mora Benavente said that the EU will try to talk 
with the Russians, Georgians, and the USG to help resolve the 
current problem.  The GOS agrees that it is crucial to 
maintain an independent BMO along Georgia's border with 
Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetiya.  When Poloff suggested 
the EU proposal for training would be insufficient, Mora 
Benavente conceded that the current EU proposal to provide 
4-6 trainers may be too small to address the problem.  He 
told Poloff that the international community now has a 
six-week window to try to resolve the Georgian BMO problem 
because poor weather in the mountainous border region will 
prevent action during that time. 
MANZANARES