Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENNA510
2007-02-28 11:18:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:  

AUSTRIA: RESPONDING TO RUSSIAN THREATS AGAINST

Tags:  MARR PREL AU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVI #0510 0591118
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 281118Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6461
INFO RUEHXP/ALL NATO POST COLLECTIVE
RUEHSW/AMEMBASSY BERN 1098
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 0438
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 0023
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 2159
RUEHSM/AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM 0475
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 3935
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 1358
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
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)

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