UKRAINE: U.S. REACTION TO CFE NON-PAPER DELIVERED

C O N F I D E N T I A L KYIV 002185 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR EUR/UMB, EUR/RPM, AND EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/31/2017 TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE NATO RS UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: U.S. REACTION TO CFE NON-PAPER DELIVERED REF: A. STATE 122450 ¶B. KYIV 2114 ¶C. STATE 116196 ¶D. MOSCOW 4118 Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,d) ¶1. (U) We delivered U.S. comments contained ref A on the Ukrainian Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) non-paper (ref B) to MFA Arms Control Director Volodymyr Belashov August 31. Belashov thanked us for the speedy U.S. response and welcomed the information that the U.S. had briefed Georgia and Moldova, in addition to Ukraine and NATO allies. He said he had provided copies of the Ukrainian non-paper to the Slovak (NATO contact embassy in Kyiv) and German Embassies, to the Turks and, on an information basis, to the European Union. He did not plan to share the Ukrainian position with the Russians, Moldovans, Georgians, or Belarusans until consultations with the U.S. and NATO allies were completed. Belashov also advised us that planned Ukrainian bilateral consultations with Russia on CFE would not take place any earlier than September 17-18, due to Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Veselovsky's unavailability until then; MFA was determining a second set of proposed dates, which would probably be in the first week of October. ¶2. (C) Belashov shared his speculation that Russia might have already made a decision to withdraw totally from the CFE Treaty and that suspension of Russian CFE obligations might simply be a first step toward this eventuality, but noted that Ukraine had no definite information regarding Russian intentions. During the bilateral consultations, divining the Russians' eventual plans would be Veselovsky's first order of business since the Ukrainians would want to know how seriously they should engage with the Russians. Belashov readily agreed to hold off on any discussion regarding possible actions that might be taken after Russia suspends its fulfillment of CFE provisions after December 12 and appeared to be mulling over our other points. He urged us to share the results of further U.S.-Russian consultations and promised to provide a read-out of the Ukraine-Russia consultations. ¶3. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Taylor