DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON GREEK FIRM'S POSSIBLE BID TO

S E C R E T ATHENS 000801 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/23/2017 TAGS: ETTC GM GR IR PARM PREL SY CBW SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON GREEK FIRM'S POSSIBLE BID TO SUPPLY MILITARY EQUIPMENT TO SYRIA REF: A. STATE 50278 ¶B. STATE 115994 ¶C. ATHENS 2468 Classified By: POLCOUNS ROBIN QUINVILLE. REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (S) Dep Polcouns and Poloff delivered demarche (ref a) concerning the possible bid by Greek company XXXXXXXXXXXX to supply multispectral camouflage netting to Syria, to Greek MFA D1 Directorate for International Organizations and Nonproliferation officer Dionyssios A. Kyvetos. Kyvetos stated that he would look into the matter but noted the name of the company was not familiar to him and that he did not recall any such transaction. He explained there were a limited number of applications to export controlled military equipment (such as the netting in question) to Syria, and that his office would have reviewed and approved any such application. ¶2. (S) An interim check in Mr. Kyvetos' office files revealed that the company had not filed an application to export multispectral camouflage netting as of late 2006. Dep Polcouns reminded Mr. Kyvetos that companies intending to circumvent international arms control protocols would not necessarily always comply with applicable regulations when seeking to sell controlled military hardware to third countries. Dep Polcouns and Poloff reiterated that our purpose was to provide the GoG with information of which the U.S. was aware and which we believed would assist the GoG in looking into the activities of XXXXXXXXXXXX. Mr. Kyvetos said he would follow-up with his colleagues in the Ministries of Defense and Finance and provide us with an update after he returned from a planned business trip in late April. ¶3. (S) Dep Polcouns and Poloff also revisited previously delivered points regarding, first, the suspected transfer of chemical industry products to the Iranian military (ref b) and, second, the Greek response to a demarche regarding U.S. concerns about the re-export of dual-use biological equipment by Greek firms to the Iranian Pasteur Institute (IPI) (ref c). Kyvetos confirmed that he was aware of both issues (which were delivered via demarche to his predecessor). He was not, however, able to provide a response during the meeting. Kyvetos promised to provide Poloff with an update of any actions taken by the GoG since ref b and c demarches were delivered to his predecessor in the D1 Directorate. COUNTRYMAN