UKRAINE: ADDITIONAL MANPADS AND SCUDS INVENTORY:

S E C R E T KYIV 004432 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR ISN, PM/WRA, EUR/UMB, AND EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2016 TAGS: MARR MOPS PREL PARM NATO PINR US UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: ADDITIONAL MANPADS AND SCUDS INVENTORY: STATUS UPDATE REF: A. COSTNER/UYEHARA 11/10/06 E-MAIL ¶B. KIEV 3300 ¶C. STATE 134827 ¶D. KIEV 3021 ¶E. KIEV 2886 ¶F. KIEV 2477 ¶G. KIEV 2452 ¶H. STATE 99428 Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,c,d) ¶1. (S) Summary: Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Tereshchenko told us November 22 that Ukraine would be willing to provide an additional 1,713 MANPADS, a mix of SA-7s and SA-14s, for destruction in the NATO PfP Trust Fund project. An official notification of this offer was under preparation and would be ready soon. Saying that Ukraine remained committed eventually to destroy all excess MANPADS, Tereshchenko appealed to us not to reduce the USG offer to provide an additional 5 million USD to the NATO PfP Trust Fund for destruction of large-caliber munitions. He recommended that the U.S. send an additional letter containing only the request for MANPADS to develop countermeasures, since this should be a separate track and involved different officials and offices in the Ministry of Defense and military General Staff. Tereshchenko said his office's proposal to remove SCUD missiles from the active inventory had been accepted and a directive to do so was under preparation. This process would take 1-2 months, after which Ukraine could provide the U.S. with a SCUD inventory. End summary. ¶2. (S) We followed up November 22 in a meeting with Deputy Defense Minister Volodymyr Tereshchenko on the status of USG requests for a SCUDS inventory (ref H) and the response to U/S Joseph's request for additional man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) for countermeasures development and for destruction in the NATO PfP Trust Fund project (ref C). Colonel Oleg Kapshtyk, Chief of the Ministry of Defense (MOD) Military-Technical Cooperation Directorate, and Anatoly Korchagin, deputy for missile disposal in the MOD Missile and Munitions Disposal Directorate, joined Tereshchenko. We reiterated that our MANPADS proposal remained a USG priority and that we were looking forward to organizing future discussions with senior-level colleagues from Washington. MANPADS -------------- ¶3. (U) Tereshchenko stressed that the Ukrainian government remains committed to destruction of excess weapons and munitions and the MOD leadership places a high priority on supporting the NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) Trust Fund project to eliminate excess and obsolete MANPADS, small arms and light weapons (SA/LW) and munitions. MOD officials appreciate the lead nation role that the U.S. provides to the NATO PfP Trust Fund project. In order to ensure smooth implementation of the project, Tereshchenko was personally meeting weekly with NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency (NAMSA) project manager (for the Trust Fund project) Steve Brown. The Trust Fund had completed destruction of its target 1,000 MANPADS and arrangements were moving forward on SA/LW and munitions, as agreed. ¶4. (SBU) Tereshchenko welcomed the USG offer to provide an additional USD 5 million for large-caliber munitions destruction if an additional 10,000 MANPADS were destroyed. In order to provide the correct response to the proposal, the MOD had reviewed the current status of its MANPADS stockpile to determine how many more might be eliminated. The military Chief of Staff and General Staff had primary responsibility for combat capability and readiness, so Tereshchenko's office had held several meetings with their uniformed counterparts to develop a common position responding to the U.S. request. Tereshchenko showed us a working document from the General Staff to follow on the preliminary information that he had earlier provided to Brown. He would forward the information formally over his signature as soon as the numbers were finalized. ¶5. (C) The working document, Tereshchenko continued, specified that Ukraine would provide a total of 1,713 MANPADS and 582 gripstocks. The MANPADS would consist of a combination of SA-7s, or the Strela 2M in the Ukrainian nomenclature, and the SA-14, or Strela-3. The numbers might change slightly when the General Staff officially transmits the information to his office, Tereshchenko noted. This offer did not mean that Ukraine would not offer more in the future, but he and his colleagues believed this was the appropriate number to offer now. When we asked about the reduction from the 2,000 MANPADS that Tereshchenko had informed Brown would be provided, Tereshchenko explained the General Staff had told him that they were prepared to offer "about 2,000" and, in the General Staff's view, the 1,713 figure was evidently still "about 2,000." ¶6. (SBU) Tereshchenko repeated that Ukraine would be prepared to take another step toward our request for additional excess MANPADS in the future, since Ukraine wished to work toward disposal of all excess weapons and munitions. He asked that the U.S. understand the Ukrainian government's sincere intentions in this regard and not reduce the USD 5 million offer of additional funding for the NATO PfP Trust Fund. Disposal of large-caliber munitions was also an important Trust Fund goal. ¶7. (S) In response to our question, Tereshchenko said use of MANPADS for countermeasures development was an entirely different issue from MANPADS for destruction so "apples needed to be separated from oranges." His office worked with the military General Staff on destruction of MANPADS, but MANPADS use for countermeasures development involved entirely different offices. Tereshchenko recommended the U.S. send a letter that contained only a proposal on MANPADS countermeasures so that a separate mechanism could be developed for joint work toward countermeasures development. ¶8. (S) Also in response to our question, Tereshchenko said he did not know the precise number of MANPADS that Ukraine possessed. Rather than providing incorrect information, he would just say that he knows that the total stock is "more than 10,000." SCUD Inventory -------------- ¶9. (C) Tereshchenko said Ukrainian cooperation with the U.S. to destroy SCUD missiles had been raised originally when Viktor Yanukovych was prime minister the first time; now that Yanukovych was prime minister again, Tereshchenko did not want to fail to follow through on the Ukrainian commitment. SCUD missiles, however, while perhaps obsolete, were still in the active inventory. His office had proposed to the MOD leadership that the systems be decommissioned so the information regarding the number of SCUD missiles and their location could be declassified. His MOD higher-ups had agreed to the proposal and the appropriate directive was being staffed. This process would take about several months. Once this was done, he would be able to provide a SCUD inventory to the U.S. ¶10. (C) At the end, Tereshchenko said Missile and Munitions Disposal Department deputy director Volodymyr Popovich, while an experienced and valuable official, had been expressing his personal views during his earlier meeting with us. Tereshchenko apologized if his remarks had caused any misunderstandings. ¶11. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Taylor