UKRAINE: CHINESE SOLID ROCKET MOTOR EXPERTS AND

S E C R E T KYIV 000146 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT ALSO FOR ISN, EUR/UMB, EUR/PRA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/22/2018 TAGS: PARM PREL MNUC ETTC MTCRE PINR CH UP SUBJECT: UKRAINE: CHINESE SOLID ROCKET MOTOR EXPERTS AND NONPROLIFERATION WORKING GROUP (NPWG) AGENDA REF: STATE 4680 Classified By: Political Counselor Kent Logsdon for reasons 1.4(b,c,d) ¶1. (S - REL UP) We met January 22 with MFA Arms Control and Military Technical Cooperation Department Counselor Oleh Belokolos to provide reftel information regarding the possibility that four individuals from China's Fourth Academy, which develops and manufactures solid rocket motors for Chinese missile and satellite programs, could be receiving training from Ukraine's E.O. Paton Electric Welding Institute in the near future. Belokolos said he had received the same information from the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington. MFA was following up on the information with the aim to provide a response by the February 14-15 nonproliferation working group (NPWG) meeting in Washington. ¶2. (SBU) Belokolos also thanked us for the information that we provided regarding which export control cases would be addressed in NPWG agenda items 11 and 12 ("Conventional Arms/Technology Transfer Cases" and "Missile/Technology Transfer Cases," respectively). In that regard, he continued, his boss MFA Arms Control Director Volodymyr Belashov was requesting that discussion of items 11 and 12 and "Sevastopol" (evidently agenda item 14, " Disposition of HEU Material at Sevastopol University, . . .," etc.) not be discussed with the full participation of all NPWG participants, but occur separately and in a smaller meeting room with only the relevant experts present. He hastened to add that the Ukrainian side was not advocating that the matters be taken off the agenda. When Belokolos was unable to clarify what was intended by this proposal, he said he would discuss the proposal further with Belashov and get back to us. ¶3. (U) Visit Embassy Kyiv's classified website: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Taylor