AUSTRIA: RESPONDING TO RUSSIAN THREATS AGAINST

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000510 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR A/S FRIED, VCI A/S PAULA DESUTTER, ISN A/S JOHN ROOD, NSC (DAVID STEPHENS AND JUDY ANSLEY) AND OSD/P (BRIAN GREEN) E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2017 TAGS: MARR PREL AU SUBJECT: AUSTRIA: RESPONDING TO RUSSIAN THREATS AGAINST MISSILE DEFENSE IN POLAND AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC REF: STATE 21640 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Scott F. Kilner for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) On February 26, DCM presented reftel points to MFA Secretary General Johannes Kyrle, and to MFA Middle East A/S SIPDIS Ralph Scheide. DCM asked for Austrian understanding of and support for the U.S. plans to deploy missile defense assets in Poland and the Czech Republic. DCM stressed that the missile defense system would help protect Europe and the U.S. from an emerging ballistic missile threat from the Middle East. From the outset, the U.S. has been in very close contact with Russian officials to keep Russia fully abreast of our plans. This system has nothing to do with Russia's nuclear forces, and the GoR is aware that the system could not threaten its ballistic missile capabilities. Russia has deployed an ABM system around Moscow for many decades, which the U.S. does not consider destabilizing. ¶2. (C) Kyrle said that it was unfortunate the issue had become a "media event." Scheide added that now European governments would have to expend political capital on this "non-issue," simply because public opinion is divided on the merits of such a U.S. defense system in Europe. According to Kyrle, Austria views this matter very much within a regional context. Kyrle stressed that the current controversy plays on historic fears and attitudes among Europeans -- a troubling echo of the Cold War generally, and the bitter INF debate of the 1980s in particular. Kyrle also suggested that the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy should take up the issue. ¶3. (C) Scheide questioned why the USG had pursued this project bilaterally, rather than within the NATO framework. DCM responded that the U.S. had indeed given briefings on this subject in the NATO-Russia Council. DCM emphasized that the issue highlighted the need for the U.S. and Europe to do everything possible to restrain Middle Eastern countries from pursuing nuclear ambitions. McCaw