BUSHEHR LIGHTWATER REACTOR-BOUND EQUIPMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAKU 000434 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2018 TAGS: PREL KNNP IAEA PARM MNUC AORC UNSC IR AJ SUBJECT: BUSHEHR LIGHTWATER REACTOR-BOUND EQUIPMENT TRANSITS AZERBAIJAN REF: A. BAKU 389 ¶B. BAKU 380 Classified By: DCM Donald Lu per 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) Further to reftels regarding the stranded Busheher lightwater-reactor bound nuclear equipment that was being held on the Iranian-Azerbaijani border at Astara, On May 2 Poloff spoke with Azerbaijani MFA First Secretary for Arms Control and Disarmament Yusuf Mammadaliyev. Mammadaliyev said the issue had been resolved, the relevant permits had been issued by the Cabinet of Ministers and the goods had transited Azerbaijan. He noted that there were a number of questions that were unresolved, and from the Azerbaijani MFA's perspective, there are a number of things with this case which are either not known, or that Mammadaliyev did not want to go into, however, given that the primary players in the case were the State Customs Committee and the Cabinet of Ministers, the MFA's exposure to the fundamental questions of this issue are likely limited. ¶2. (C) Mammadaliyev noted that during a meeting between Russian Embassy in Baku DCM Oleg Krokhin and Azerbaijani DFM Araz Azimov on the issue in late April, Azimov asked why Russia had chosen to publicize the issue, given that the initial press reports came from Interfax. Krokhin was non-responsive to this question, and Mammadliayev opined that Krokhin likely did not know. He also said he had no information as to why the Russian side was either unwilling or unable to provide the appropriate end-user certificates from the beginning, which is all the more vexing, given that the goods to be transited were apparently within the scope of the sanctions regime. He noted that the goods in transit were insulation equipment. Poloff then queried as to how the--apparently uncertified--goods were able to successfully enter at the Russian-Azerbaijani border crossing point at Yamala, but they were subsequently held at Astara. Mammadaliyev said that he also did not know the reason for this but opined that it was likely the result of current construction/renovation taking place at the Yamala border crossing, were he said that there are currently "more lax" controls in regard to customs issues. ¶3. (C) Mammadaliyev noted that in a late April meeting between Iranian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Hamid Zare and Azimov, that Zare did not pressure Azimov to allow the goods to go though, and said that he understood why the goods were being held (i.e. they did not have certificates). Based on our understanding of the situation, we have no reason to believe that any sanctions violations took place. However there are a number of questions that this incident raised including how the uncertified goods were able to transit Azerbaijan, why the Russians wanted to publicize the event, and why the Russians did not provide the appropriate certificates in the first place. DERSE