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Viewing cable 09SOFIA703, DAS QUANRUD'S DECEMBER 11 VISIT TO SOFIA
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Reference ID | Created | Released | Classification | Origin |
---|---|---|---|---|
09SOFIA703 | 2009-12-15 09:37 | 2011-05-17 16:00 | CONFIDENTIAL | Embassy Sofia |
VZCZCXRO6209
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHSF #0703/01 3490937
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 150937Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY SOFIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6536
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SOFIA 000703
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/3/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV ENRG ECON BU
SUBJECT: DAS QUANRUD'S DECEMBER 11 VISIT TO SOFIA
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Susan Sutton for reasons 1.4 (b) and(d
)
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: In December 11 meetings with DAS Quanrud,
Bulgarian Defense Minister Mladenov described his plans for
new deployments to Afghanistan and asked for U.S. support to
establish a NATO training hub, possibly for OMLTs, at our
joint military facilities in Bulgaria. Noting Bulgaria's
tight budgets, he urged the U.S. and NATO to find ways to
partner wealthy countries that were unwilling to fight with
poorer allies that had political will but fewer resources.
Both Mladenov and Deputy Foreign Minister Lyutskanov
emphasized the importance of close coordination on
Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and the Western Balkans and offered
Bulgarian assistance wherever it is needed. DPM and MoI
Tsvetanov noted the progress his government has made in
fighting corruption, including dozens of indictments against
current and former public officials and reform of the
Ministry of the Interior and the National Security Agency.
He emphasized the importance he places on U.S. political
support and close law enforcement cooperation, including
exchange programs and technical assistance. Lyutskanov and
the Deputy Minister of Economy and Energy stressed the
pressure Bulgaria was under to continue participation in
Russian-dominated energy projects. END SUMMARY.
Afghanistan
-------------
¶2. (C) DEFMIN Mladenov said Bulgaria welcomed President
Obama's Afghanistan speech and said three areas were
particularly important going forward: protecting the Afghan
civilian population, greater engagement at the regional
level, and a strengthened civilian development and
reconstruction effort. Like others in the alliance, Bulgaria
worries that Karzai will not act responsibly, particularly in
his handling of the regional governments. Mladenov also
suggested that NATO discuss which scenarios for Taliban
reconciliation would be acceptable. Both Mladenov and DFM
Lyutskanov agreed on the importance of steady public outreach
and said NATO should step up its public diplomacy efforts,
including programs to send journalists to Afghanistan and
Brussels.
¶3. (C) Noting that Bulgarian forces do not operate under
any national caveats, Mladenov said Bulgaria would increase
its 470-person contingent in Afghanistan and eventually
consolidate it in the Kandahar area. Details will hopefully
be complete by January, but he'd like to send an additional
20 soldiers in January and another 70 to 80 later in 2010.
He noted that Bulgaria is also prepared to send a second
Operational Mentor and Liaison Team (OMLT) whenever an
appropriate Afghan National Army partner unit is identified.
In addition, Bulgaria has the personnel and equipment
necessary to deploy a Role Two Military Medical facility, but
it does not have sufficient funds for transport and
sustainment in the field. Mladenov said he wrote to the U.S.
Defense Department to see if it is possible to embed this
medical facility into a U.S. contingent.
¶4. (C) Mladenov said Bulgaria wants to play a positive role
in Afghanistan beyond military assistance. On December 10,
Bulgaria announced it would contribute five police trainers
to the EU police mission in Afghanistan. Once the NATO
Training Mission -- Afghanistan (NTM-A) is fully operational,
he said Bulgaria would participate in this as well. Bulgaria
also plans to invite Afghan military personnel to participate
in Bulgarian military education and training programs.
¶5. (C) Addressing the broader picture of NATO force
generation for Afghanistan, Mladenov suggested that the
Alliance find better ways to match up wealthy countries that
are unwilling to fight with poorer countries with greater
political will but fewer resources. He said a UK/French
initiative to refurbish helicopters provided some precedent
for this and urged the allies to find other creative
approaches. He said Bulgaria has spoken with other allies
and some, like the UK, were very supportive.
Using U.S.-Bulgaria Bases to Support Afghanistan
--------------------------------------------- -----
¶6. (C) The Defense Minister acknowledged the bruising
budget battles currently waging inside the Bulgarian
government and said that money would continue to be the
biggest obstacle to additional deployments. Nevertheless, he
said he would work to find other, creative ways to contribute
to the fight. He said the joint military facilities in
Bulgaria were a underutilized resource, and he hopes they
SOFIA 00000703 002 OF 003
could become a hub for NATO training, perhaps for OMLTs. He
has discussed this idea with U/SD Flournoy and with SACEUR
and said both responded positively. He hoped that DAS
Quanrud would also raise this issue in Washington to help
gain traction.
Establishing a Regular Security Dialogue
------------------------------------------
¶7. (C) Mladenov said the U.S.-Bulgaria security
relationship could be made stronger through more regular
consultations at a more senior level. Complex issues such as
expanding the use of our joint facilities, joint deployments
in Afghanistan, acquisition of U.S. aircraft, and missile
defense cooperation could be analyzed and decided more
efficiently with an annual meeting. He requested DAS Quanrud
explore with OSD such consultations.
Iran
-------
¶8. (C) Deputy Foreign Minister Lyutskanov noted Bulgaria
supported the last round of sanctions against Iran, and would
continue to continue to support a hard line. He wondered
whether the U.S. and Europe should more openly and vigorously
support the opposition in Iran, though he acknowledged that
the appearance of outside support could hurt the opposition
and leave us open to accusations of meddling.
Russia
--------
¶9. (C) Lyutskanov described the Bulgarian attitude to
Russia as a "love-hate" relationship. In his view, Russia is
operating under a great deal of fear, as its internal
situation is highly unstable. Russian leaders, he commented,
still feel they must posture as if they were "Peter the Great
or Stalin," and have made mistakes in Eastern Europe by being
too forceful in dealing with their former satellites. He
agreed that more confidence building measures are needed and
argued that despite "irresponsible policies" by Moscow, a
soft, measured approach will accomplish more than a hard
line. He said it is important to get the NATO-Russia
dialogue back on track and added that a new NATO-China
dialogue would be valuable as well.
¶10. (C) Mladenov emphasized that Europe should reject any
Russian security proposal that would lessen the role of NATO,
EU, OSCE or CFE structures. He noted, however, that from a
Russian perspective, the allies' annual expenditure of money,
time and resources on NATO Reaction Force rotations must seem
provocative when the alliance claims that Afghanistan is
NATO's main threat and not Russia.
The Balkans
----------
¶11. (C) Lyutskanov said it was important for Europe and
America to continue to engage the Western Balkan countries.
He shared our disappointment over Bosnia's inability to make
the political progress necessary to qualify for MAP, but
noted that Bulgaria still supports eventual EU and NATO
membership for all of the Western Balkans. On a positive
note, he emphasized that the decision to allow visa-free
travel to the EU for the countries of former Yugoslavia was a
positive development as it gave these countries a window into
Europe and offered them an attractive alternative to
isolation and "refighting old wars". If the U.S. has
specific ideas for how Bulgaria could further assist the
integration of the Western Balkans, he said his Ministry
would be happy to help.
Visa Waiver Program
---------------------
¶12. (C) Lyutskanov stressed the importance of the visa
waiver program to Bulgaria. As a strategic partner who
cooperates with the United States in all areas of foreign
policy and defense, it is painful for Bulgarians to remain
outside the VWP.
Rule of law
--------------
¶13. (C) DPM and MoI Tsvetanov stressed the progress his
ministry has made in the fight against organized crime (OC)
and corruption and the importance of close cooperation with
the United States. He noted that GERB's goal was the
establishment of an interagency approach to fighting
SOFIA 00000703 003 OF 003
organized crime and corruption and was working closely with
the State Security Agency, the Minister of Justice and the
Prosecutor General to accomplish this. Since taking power in
July, the new government has achieved success in pursuing
high-level corruption cases and passing needed reforms. When
asked about "next steps," he said that reform of the criminal
code and criminal procedure code was a top priority as well
as formation of specialized court panels to hear
OC/corruption cases. He acknowledged that broader judicial
reform was also necessary, but said his preference was to
allow the judiciary to work this problem internally in order
to avoid the appearance of interfering with the independence
of the judicial branch. He noted the high impact of U.S. law
enforcement assistance and said that nearly all of his
regional police chiefs had received U.S. training. U.S.
equipment and resources are also of great assistance in
Bulgaria's efforts to fight highly sophisticated organized
crime groups. He suggested that U.S.-based training for a
top cadre of Bulgaria's best judges could be highly
beneficial.
¶14. (C) In a meeting with representatives of leading
Bulgarian NGOs, rule of law experts agreed that the new GERB
government has the political will to fight corruption, though
some worry that incompetence, apathy and corruption
throughout the staffs of the ministries would make reform
difficult despite the best intentions of a few at the top.
But all agreed that the government was off to a good start
and deserved support. Representatives of UNODC and the EC
emphasized that the international community would like to see
more successful prosecutions in organized crime and
corruption cases.
¶15. (C) All agreed that reform of the criminal code and the
criminal procedure code is sorely needed, and that corruption
among prosecutors and judges remains one of the most serious
challenges facing Bulgaria. There was no consensus, however,
on the best way forward. Some felt that constitutional
amedments were necessary to fundamentally reshape the
judiciary system (such as reform of the Supreme udicial
Council or moving the Prosecutorial servce into the
government), while others focused on ways to hold the
judiciary accountable for its acions.
Energy
---------
¶16. (C) Lyutskanovnoted the intense Russian pressure
Bulgaria is uder to conclude energy deals. He agreed that
Bugarian bargaining power will increase over time, bu given
Russia's pressure, he said "it is hard fo us to wait." He
agreed that transparency shoul be Bulgaria's guiding
principle in all its negoiations and over time, he believes
Russia will acept that it is dependent on Bulgaria as a
marketand will alter its approach. Deputy Minister of
conomy, Energy and Tourism Ivo Marinov, who had just
returned from talks with the Russians, said there would be no
great breakthroughs or surprises emerging from
Bulgarian-Russian economic talks held in Sofia December
10-11. Negotiations on South Stream, the
Burgas-Alexandroupolis oil pipeline and the Belene nuclear
power plant would all continue. At the same time, Bulgaria
would continue to support Nabucco and seek additional
diversification through interconnector projects, LNG and CNG,
and nuclear fuel alternatives.
GUANTANAMO
----------
¶17. (C) In a dinner with DAS Quanrud, Parliamentarians
focused on whether Bulgaria should accept a Guantanamo
detainee. They noted that an internal memo from the Prime
Minister and a letter from SPE Fried had been leaked and
circulated within Parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defense
Committee earlier in the day. Those present supported taking
a detainee, and agreed that humanitarian and EU-solidarity
arguments would best pursuade the Bulgarian public o support
such a decision. They noted that the Foreign Affairs
Committee would discuss the issue with DPM Tsvetanov December
¶15.
DAS Quanrud has reviewed this message.
SUTTON