UKRAINE: PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE AND

UNCLAS KYIV 003039 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR T, L/OES (ROACH),ISN/CPI, EUR/UMB, EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PARM KNNP PHSA KTIA EWWT UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: PROLIFERATION SECURITY INITIATIVE AND SHIP-BOARDING AGREEMENT UPDATE REF: A. STATE 164778 ¶B. STATE 161772 ¶C. STATE 156157 ¶D. KYIV 513 ¶E. KYIV 183 ¶1. On December 11, we delivered ref A non-paper providing U.S. plans to sponsor a 5th anniversary Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) conference to MFA Arms Control and Military Technical Cooperation Counselor Oleksandr Bondarenko and Attache Maryna Stroga. Bondarenko opined that Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Veselovsky might be designated to lead the Ukrainian delegation to the May 28, 2008, event, and, in response to our inquiry, said he sincerely hoped that Veselovsky would remain in his position until then, since he had a good working relationship with Veselovsky. (Note: Former Foreign Minister Yatsenyuk was elected Speaker of the Parliament December 4, and with the possibility of a new government being confirmed in the near future, a shake-up of MFA senior leadership is likely.) ¶2. At the same time, we provided ref B non-paper, and a courtesy Ukrainian translation, providing U.S. major concerns regarding Ukraine's proposed text of a PSI shipboarding agreement. In doing so, we stressed our desire to receive a written explanation of the changes introduced in the Ukrainian January 2007 draft text and noted the possibility of holding further discussions on the margins of the next U.S.-Ukraine Nonproliferation Working Group (NPWG) meeting. We also informed Bondarenko and Stroga that the U.S. had proposed February 14-15 for the NPWG meeting. Bondarenko said he had already circulated the non-paper to the relevant Ukrainian government offices (showing us the copy of the non-paper that he had received from the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington) and especially the State Border Guard Service. ¶3. On November 20, we provided the results drawn from ref C, with a courtesy Ukrainian translation, of the results of the latest PSI Operational Experts Group (OEG) meeting to Maryna Stroga. We asked her to ensure that information about the meeting, hosted by the Greek Government in Rhodes October 2-4, was circulated appropriately within the Ukrainian government. ¶4. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Taylor