UKRAINE: SHIPMENT OF WEAPONS FROM UKRAINIAN PORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KYIV 001825 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/UMB AND EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2017 TAGS: PARM PREL EWWT MARR UP TU IZ SUBJECT: UKRAINE: SHIPMENT OF WEAPONS FROM UKRAINIAN PORT TO UNKNOWN RECIPIENT REF: A. STATE 104162 ¶B. ANKARA 1913 Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Michael Uyehara for reasons 1 .4(b,d) ¶1. (C) We delivered ref A inquiry regarding the destination of the St. Vincent-flagged vessel Slavyanin July 27 to MFA Arms Control and Military Technical Cooperation Department Director Volodymyr Belashov. When doing so, we emphasized the urgency of the request. Belashov said he would immediately transmit our inquiry to the appropriate Ukrainian government ministries and agencies, particularly the State Service for Export Control (SSEC),which would have been responsible for issuing an export license for any arms shipment. He opined that, since the vessel departed from Okyabrsk, the shipment was probably transiting from either Russia or Belarus. ¶2. (C) Given the urgency of the request, we inquired whether a direct inquiry to SSEC might be expedient. Belashov said SSEC was likely to respond only to an MFA inquiry and rebuff a direct Embassy approach. In fact, when we inquired with SSEC Deputy Chairman Reshetilov, Reshetilov only confirmed that such a shipment, even a transit one, would require an export license but said he would provide additional information only in response to an inquiry channeled through MFA. The State Customs Service confirmed that the ship carried military goods and that the shipment had the appropriate license, but would not share any further information. The port of Oktyabrsk, which is a military one, advised us that it would not divulge information about military shipments for national security reasons. ¶3. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. MINIMIZE CONSIDERED Taylor