UKRAINE: SCUD INVENTORY UPDATE

S E C R E T KYIV 000125 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR ISN, EUR/UMB, EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/19/2017 TAGS: ETTC PARM PREL MTCRE MNUC UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: SCUD INVENTORY UPDATE REF: A. 06 KYIV 4432 ¶B. 06 KIEV 2452 ¶C. 06 STATE 99428 Classified By: Acting Deputy Chief of Mission Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,c,d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. See para 5. ¶2. (S) During a January 17 meeting, Deputy Defense Minister Tereshchenko expressed optimism to visiting EUR/PRA Director Anita Friedt, PM/WRA Deputy Director Steven Costner, and DOD and Embassy Kyiv representatives that the Ukrainian government would soon be able to release a long-promised SCUD missile inventory (reftels). ¶3. (S) Acknowledging Friedt's point that the Ukrainian government had committed to destroy its SCUD missiles in return for USG support for Ukraine's MTCR membership, Tereshchenko said he had been a commander of rocket forces as a Ukrainian artillery officer about ten years ago. He had retired in 2000 and was now a civilian official, so, despite his background, other Ministry of Defense officials and the Chief of the General Staff had responsibility for decisions regarding SCUD missiles. In initial consultations with the relevant officials, Tereshchenko had received a positive response to his proposal to decommission SCUD missiles. Once they were out of the active military inventory, information on their number and location would no longer be considered classified and he would skirt the difficulty of obtaining authority to release such classified information to the USG. The next step would be the release of a Ministry of Defense directive to decommission the missiles, but the directive had not yet been authorized. Tereshchenko said he would re-engage on the issue and cite his meeting as evidence of continued USG interest in the matter. ¶4. (S) Tereshchenko said he had heard that the USG was interested in purchasing several SCUD missile systems for training its personnel. He inquired whether the USG still intended to do so. This information would be factored into Ministry of Defense plans for SCUD destruction. ¶5. (U) Request Department provide information to respond to Tereshchenko's inquiry in para 4. ¶6. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Taylor