BILATERAL BIOTERRORISM LETTER DELIVERED

UNCLAS MOSCOW 005448 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR OES/IHA (OSTFIELD, HILLESHEIM) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TBIO PTER PINS RS SUBJECT: BILATERAL BIOTERRORISM LETTER DELIVERED REF: STATE 154159 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) On November 9, we provided reftel letter from State Department Bioterrorism Senior Adviser Ostfield to Deputy Director Titorenko in the MFA's Department of New Challenges and Threats (DNV). On November 16, DNV Senior Adviser Vladimir Prokhorov advised us that S/CT Coordinator Dailey and Russian Counterterrorism Special Presidential Representative Safonov met in Vienna on November 6. In Vienna, they discussed incorporating bioterrorism into the agenda of a proposed U.S.-Russian meeting of WMD experts in Moscow in early December. ¶3. (SBU) Prokhorov told us Russia expected the bioterrorism agenda outlined in the Ostfield letter to be included in a subsequent letter from S/CT Coordinator Dailey to Safonov on the proposed meeting of WMD experts. Prokhorov noted that Russia was hoping a WMD meeting (including the bioterrorism component) would take place on either December 3 or 4 in Moscow. Alternatively, Prokhorov suggested a smaller meeting of bioterrorism experts in Moscow the week of December 17. ¶3. (SBU) Prokhorov also expressed doubts about whether Russian officials from the Ministries of Defense, Agriculture, and Health and Social Development would take part in bilateral bioterrorism discussions. He noted that Russia views combating bioterrorism as purely a law enforcement function, and that these ministries do not see that they have a role to play. BURNS