December 29, 2016 Call
Participants
• Michael Flynn
• Russian Ambassador Sergey Ivanovich Kislyak
UNKNOWN MALE: Russian Embassy~ Ambassador's office.
FLYNN: Yeah this is General Flynn. [He may be using a speaker-phone]
UNKNOWN MALE: Yes, I will put Ambassador on the line, sir.
FLYNN: Okay thank you.
UNKNOWN MALE: Thanks.
[Call transferred to Ambassador Kislyak. Timestamp 00:30]
KISLYAK: Hello?
FLYNN: Hi Ambassador this is General Flynn
KISLYAK: Oh, General, thank you very much for calling me back. I was trying to reach you for quite a while because I have several, uh, issues to raise with you --
FLYNN: Uh huh.
KISLYAK: - rather to infonn you. If you'll allow me, one by one.
FLYNN: Please.
KISLYAK: One, uh, since you were interested in the issue ofthe Middle East and you called me on that issue
FLYNN: Uh huh.
[Times/amp OJ:00]
KISLYAK: We wanted to convey to you and through you to the President Elect that we had uh significant reservations about the idea of adopting now the principles for the Middle East~ uh~ that our American colleagues are pushing for. So we are not going to support it to - in the quartet, or in the Security Council. And we have conveyed to our American colleagues. So in the spirit of full transparency I was asked to infonn you as well.
FLYNN: Okay.
KfSLYAK: So it's not something that we - Russia - are going to support.
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FLYNN: Okay that's good.
KISLYAK: Secondly~ we think it requires some additional work and everybody has to be on board.
FLYNN: Ofcourse, Ambassador, ofcourse. You know it does. You know it does.
[Some talking over each other]
KISLYAK: And especially I think taking into account, now that US policy might uh, be changing or not, we want to understand what is going to be your policy when and if we are to implement things that we are working on.
FLYNN: Right.
KISLYAK: So the second point. ifs also on the Middle East, uh, our specia]ist on the Middle East say that they are very much interested in working with your specialists on these issues and if you're available - not you personally, but your specialists - are available even before the -
FLYNN: Mmhm.
KlSLYAK: - President Elect is~ has his inauguration on the twentieth, for, uh, we are perfectly available. But also, something more specific, we, uh as you might have seen, are trying uh, to help uh~ the peace process in Syria. And today we announced, uh, the agreement that with Turkey and others, we are able to uh agree on and to help the Syrian sides to start working on political process. So we are thinking about an event in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan -
[fimestamp 03:00J FLYNN:Mmhm
KISLYAK: - that will, J hope, help the political process to be started. And it's something that is going to be held in the third decade of January. The dates are yet to be, uh, finalized.
FLYNN: Okay. So third week ofJanuary?
KISLYAK: Not week. We call it decade, sir, its third- that means from the twenty ofJanuary to
the maybe the end ofJanuary. FLYNN: I gotcha, I gotcha.
KISLYAK: And we are planning to invite the administration of the United States to uh, be, uh, part of it in one way or another, because we believe that a stable settlement of the whole conflict in Syria cannot be achieved without active and constructive participation ofthe United States.
FLYNN: Yeah.
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KJSLYAK: And so Ijust want to alert you and ifyou think you will be interested to participate - not you personally, the administration - we certainly would welcome this.
FLYNN: Yep, okay.
KISLYAK: And especially taking into account that we are talking about the third uh, decade of January.
FLYNN: Uh huh.
KISLYAK: I mean heads up, we wanted you to know this. And the third final uh, point, General, is uh, I am entrust to convey through you to Seer- uh to President Elect, proposal from the Kremlin. Maybe to organize a conversation over the secure video line that starting on the twentieth would be available to Mr. Trump. And it's there, certainly, uh - uh, between the White House and the Kremlin. And our proposal is to have the conversation on the twenty.first between our Presidents. And the idea of Mr. Putin is first of all to congratulate uh, your President Elect or the President, at the time, and maybe to discuss small number~ briefly, of issues that are on our agenda. So his proposal is on the twenty-first o f January.
FLYNN: Okay. Ummm
[Fimestamp: 05:20]
KISLYAK: Is by security video. Secure video line.
FLYNN: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I understand. Okay, um, okay. Listen, uh, a couple of things. Number one, what I would ask you guys to do - and make sure you, make sure that you convey this, okay? - do not, do not uh, allow this administration to box us in, right now, okay? Um -
KISLYAK: We have conveyed it. And -
FLYNN: Yeah.
KISLYAK: It's, uh, ifs uh, very very specifically and transparently, openly.
FLYNN: So, you know, depending on, depending on what uh, actions they take over this current issue of the cyber stutf, you know, where they're looking like they're gonna, they're gonna dismiss some number of Russians out of the country, I understand all that and I understand that~ that, you know, the information that they have and all that, but what I would ask Russia to do is to not - is - is - ifanything - because I know you have to have some sort ofaction - to, to only make it reciprocal. Make it reciprocal. Don't - don't make it- don't go any further than you have to. Because I don't want us to get into something that has to escalate, on a, you know, on a tit for tat. You follow me, Ambassador?
KISLYAK: I understand what you're saying~ but you know, you might appreciate the sentiments that are raging now in Moscow.
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FLYNN: I know, I - believe me, I do appreciate it, I very much appreciate it. But I really don't want us to get into a situation where we're going, you know~ where we do this and then you do something bigger, and then you know, everybody's got to go back and forth and everybody's got to be the tough guy here, you know?
fI'imestamp 07:00]
FLYNN: We don't need to, we don't need that right now, we need to- we need cool heads to prevail, and uh, and we need to be very steady about what we're going to do because we have absolutely a common uh. threat in the Middle East right now
KISLYAK: We agree.
FLYNN: We have to eliminate this common threat.
KISL YAK: We agree. One of the problems among the measures that have been announced today is that now FSB and GRU are sanctions, are sanctioned, and I ask myself, uh~ does it mean that the United States isn't willing to work on terrorist threats?
FLYNN: Yeah, yeah.
KISLYAK: Because that's the people who are exactly, uh, fighting the terrorists.
FLYNN: Yeah, yeah, yep.
KISLYAK: So that's something that we have to deal with. But rve heard what you say, and I certainly will try·-
FLYNN: Yeah.
KISLYAK: - to get the people in Moscow to understand it. FLYNN: Yeah.
fI'imestamp 08:00]
FLYNN: And please make sure that its uh - the idea is, be - if you~ if you have to do something, do something on a reciprocal basis, meaning you know, on a sort ofan even basis. Then that, then that is a good message and we'll understand that message. And, and then, we know that we're not going to escalate this thing, where we~ where because if we put out- ifwe send out 30 guys and you send out 60, you know, or you shut down every Embassy, rmean we have to get this to a - lefs, let's keep this at a level that uh is, is even-keeled, okay? ls even-keeled. And then what we can do is, when we come in, we can then have a better conversation about where, where we're gonna go, uh~ regarding uh, regarding our relationship. And also, basically we have to take these, these enemies on that we have. And we definitely have a common enemy. You have a problem with it, we have a problem with it in this country, and we definitely have a problem with it in the Middle East.
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[Times/amp 09:00]
FLYNN: And we have to, we have to do something about it. So, um KISLYAK: General, I completely agree with you.
FLYNN: Yeah, yeah. So anyway. Okay?
KfSLYAK: Thank you.
FLYNN: And I'll - so I'll relay the thing about the twenty-first, to see if we can't - to see if we can't do something along those lines. And I' 11, you know, I can't comm it to it but I' 11 -
KlSLYAK: No.
FLYNN: -But I certainly will relay it. KISLYAK: Thank you. Wonderful.
FLYNN: Certainly will relay it. And then uh, I appreciate very much the uh, reservations about the current administration's position on the Middle East. That - that does not do anybody any good right now, with - I mean, you know, you know Ambassador, the situation with Hamas, and the Palestinian situation, I mean, we' 11 come up with a solution that's good for everybody. We will.
KISLYAK: That is something we want to work towards. FLYNN: We'll come up with one.
KISLYAK: And I would say that our reservations are more about the way it is been developing, instead of bringing everybody on board.
[Timestamp /0:00]
FLYNN: Yeah.
KISLYAK: You cannot just create facts on the ground that are not going to be implemented afte1Wards. We need to -
FLYNN: Yeah.
KISLYAK: - bring everybody on board and that is not easy. On some smaller points, yes probably we would disagree, but unless we talk it through, it's not going to be useful.
FLYNN: Yeah, yeah. And remember, now remember, Ambassador, you're not talking to a diplomat, you're talking to a soldier, so l'm a very practical guy, and it's about solutions. It's about very practical solutions that we're - that we need to come up with here. And uh, and we
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have to stop talking past each other on - and so that means that we have to understand exactly what it is that we want to try to achieve, okay?
KISLYAK: Yeah. I agree. Fully.
FLYNN: Okay.
KISLYAK: Thank you so much, and by the way -
FLYNN: How was your holiday? Is your family still with ya?
KJSLYAK: Yeah, they came and they are going to stay with us until I think the first week of January.
FLYNN: Good. Good.
KISLYAK: And happy new year, thank you very much for calling me back, and I am looking forward to an opportunity to have a longer conversation, maybe.
FLYNN: Yeah, yeah we will, we will.
KISLYAK: Whenever it is convenient to you.
FLYNN: Yeah I'll- I'll set some time up. Maybe the end ofnext week or something KISLYAK: Yes, that's a wonderful idea.
FLYNN: Yeah, yeah.
KISLYAK: I'm looking fomiard to it.
FLYNN: Okay Ambassador
KISLYAK: Thank you.
FLYNN: Okay, thank you, bye bye.
KISLYAK: AH the best.
FLYNN: Bye.
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Poll
5 (45.5%)