FOLLOW-UP ON U.S.-RUSSIA MANPADS COOPERATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 015782


DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/PRA AND PM/WRA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/27/2014
TAGS: MARR PARM PREL PTER NATO RS
SUBJECT: FOLLOW-UP ON U.S.-RUSSIA MANPADS COOPERATION

REF: A. STATE 270530

B. STATE 270302

C. EMAIL: FGONALEZ-JSISKOVIC 12/23/2004

Classified By: A/POL Bruce Donahue. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).


1. (C) On December 21 we delivered ref A points and U.S.
proposed final text for a U.S.-Russia agreement on MANPADS
cooperation to Colonel Oleg Skabara of the MOD International
Treaties Directorate and Oleg Burmistrov, Political Military
Affairs officer of the MFA North America Department. Skabara
pushed back on the bracketed changes suggested by the U.S.
On December 23 we met again with Skabara and Burmistrov to
continue our discussions on the text changes to the proposed
U.S. Russian agreement on MANPADS cooperation.


2. (C) At the December 23 meeting, Colonel Skabara, who had
participated in the December 9 Vienna talks on MANPADS,
insisted on working off the GOR's Russian-language version of
the draft agreement, saying it was a direct translation from
the English-language version agreed upon in Vienna. Skabara
declined to work from the USG's Russian-language draft. The
Russian side submitted 21 different text changes for USG
review, many of which Skabara described as "stylistic" or
required by GOR lawyers. A scanned copy of the GOR's
Russian-language draft, with line in/out changes submitted by
the Russian side, has been sent via email to Jean Siskovic in
EUR/PRA. A separate email detailing the 21 GOR-proposed
edits has also been sent to Siskovic.


3. (C) Although most of the edits were described as
stylistic, post sees three specific edits which could
potentially be problematic.

-- The Russian side rejected the placement of the term
"retransfer" ("re-export" in Russian) preceding the "of
proprietary rights" in Section One of the agreement. They
instead proposed placing the word "re-export" between the
words "grant" and "loan." They argued that "re-export of
proprietary rights" sounds odd in Russian.

-- In Section Five, the Russian side rejected the first use
of the word "illicit" in regard to production of MANPADS,
claiming it had too broad a meaning. They instead insisted
on using the word "unauthorized," reporting that President
Putin had used the word "unauthorized" in reference to this
matter. However, they were not opposed to using the word
"illicit" with regard to transfers later in the same sentence.

-- The Russian side insisted on deleting the last sentence of
Section Five, which reads, "The participants intend to work
cooperatively to discourage transfers of MANPADS by third
countries that the Participants would not themselves
authorize in similar circumstances." Skabara said the GOR
had not agreed to this sentence during the December 9 talks
in Vienna, and that this sentence was not submitted for
clearance with the rest of the text through their interagency
process. He said that if this sentence is to be considered,
it would require further negotiations at a higher level --
presumably between General-Lt. Buzhinskiy, Chief of the MOD's
International Treaty Directorate, and A/S Bloomfield. In
addition, the entire text with the additional changes would
need to be resubmitted for review through the GOR's
interagency process, Skabara said.


4. (C) At the end of the meeting, Colonel Skabara proposed a
follow-up meeting once the U.S. side has reviewed the
proposed GOR edits.


VERSHBOW