OSCE/FSC: JULY 16, CZECHS - U.S. COUNTER RUSSIA ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 USOSCE 000187

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCFE OSCE PARM PREL XG FSC
SUBJECT: OSCE/FSC: JULY 16, CZECHS - U.S. COUNTER RUSSIA ON
MISSILE DEFENSE

REF: A. USOSCE 00176

B. DUCCESCHI-NEIGHBOUR E-MAIL 15 JULY

C. STATE 65190

D. FALLON MEYER E-MAIL 15 JULY


1. (SBU) Summary: The Czech Republic and the U.S. responded
strongly to last week's intervention by Russia that
inaccurately portrayed the U.S.-Czech agreement on missile
defense radar. Drawing on material from President Medvedev's
July 15 speech to the Russian MFA, Russia replied with claims
that missile defense threatens Russia and repeated threats to
take necessary measures to ensure Russia's security.
Separately, the U.S. stated that U.S. troops now in Georgia
are there with full host nation consent for a long-planned
exercise that is completely unrelated to tensions elsewhere
in the region.


2. (SBU) FSC.DD/07/08/Rev.2 on updating categories of weapons
and equipment was adopted, after which the U.S. noted its
intention to revisit potential duplication of effort. Germany
introduced a new Food for Thought (FFT) on landmines and
Russia asked delegations to prepare for discussion of
Russia's Naval CSBM next week in the plenary. Japan provided
a well-received briefing to the Forum on Japan's ongoing
counter terrorism efforts.


3. (SBU) Meanwhile, feedback in Working Group (WG) B to
Estonia's FFT on cyber security was positive. Consensus was
not reached in WG A on end user certificates or destabilizing
transfer of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW) by air.
Further discussion of these drafts, as well as the FFT on
updating the code of conduct questionnaire, will resume in
September. End summary.

Czechs, U.S. Respond to Russia on Missile Defense
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4. (SBU) Under General Statements, the Czech Republic
(Reinohlova) replied to last week's harsh comments by Russia
regarding the recent U.S.-Czech radar agreement (Ref A). She
questioned Russia's motives for raising this topic in the FSC
since the Czech Republic has been discussing all aspects of
the missile defense radar with Russia in bilateral, as well
as multilateral formats. She stressed that the radar poses
no threat to Russian security and that the construction of
the missile defense radar represents a significant
contribution to the security of the European continent.
Reinhlova characterized Russia's threat to "take appropriate
technical military measures" as absolutely inappropriate and
at odds with the spirit of collective security.


5. (SBU) Per Ref B, the U.S. (Neighbour) followed by noting
that recent developments make it appropriate to update the
FSC on missile defense and correct the inaccurate impression
left by Russia's statement the previous week. Neighbour
emphasized that recent Iranian missile tests only reinforce
the fact that the ballistic missile threat to deployed U.S.
forces, allies and friends is real and growing. Noting
NATO's recognition of this threat and the contribution U.S.
missile defense assets will have on European security at the
Bucharest Summit, he stated that the agreement between the
U.S. and the Czech Republic signed last week is an important
step in countering the emerging threat.


6. (SBU) Neighbour also reiterated that the proposed system's
location and limited capabilities pose no threat to Russia's
strategic deterrent force, and that the U.S. is attempting to
work cooperatively with Russia to assuage Russia's concerns.
He ended by reporting that the U.S. has also proposed that
Russia join the U.S. and NATO in developing joint, regional
missile defense architecture.


7. (SBU) Russia (Ulyanov) rebutted the Czech Republic's
comments, noting that the bilateral and multilateral
discussions had failed to achieve any positive results.
Ulyanov remarked that anyone with any knowledge of strategic

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defense would realize that placement of a missile defense
radar on the border of Russia would weaken Russia's strategic
deterrence. Reading from Russian President Medvedev's speech
of 15 June to the Russian MFA, Ulyanov quoted:

"...We firmly declare that deploying elements of U.S. global
missile defense in Eastern Europe only aggravates the
situation. As I have already said, we will be forced to react
appropriately to this. Our American and European partners
have also been warned accordingly.

We realize that national security cannot rely on someone's
word of honor. This also applies to Russian-U.S. ties in the
sphere of strategic stability. This common legacy obviously
cannot survive if one of the sides selectively destroys
individual elements of this strategic structure...."

U.S. Notes Multinational PfP Exercise in Georgia
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8. (SBU) Noting that he had been asked about it, the U.S.
(Neighbour) briefly noted a joint Partnership for Peace
exercise involving troops from the U.S., Georgia, Azerbaijan,
Armenia and Ukraine, was currently under way in Georgia.
Highlighted were the location and purpose of the exercise.
The U.S. emphasized that the troops were in Georgia with full
host nation consent, that the exercise had been planned
long-ago, and that it was completely unrelated to tensions
elsewhere in the region. (Note: This intervention was made
following a number of informal queries/comments on the
margins. Information provided was compiled from U.S. Army
Europe press releases. End Note)

Spain Bans Cluster Munitions
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9. (SBU) Spain (Mor Sola) announced that on July 11 Spain's
Council of Ministers had approved an agreement ordering a
unilateral moratorium on cluster munitions. According to the
Spanish statement (FSC.DEL/127/08),the moratorium is
intended as a step toward ratification of the Convention on
Cluster Munitions, and includes a prohibition on their use,
destruction of current stockpiles, and prohibition on the
import, export or shipping of such munitions.

Japan Briefs on its Counter Terrorism Efforts
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10. (SBU) In Security Dialogue, Mr. H. Sakamoto, Minister of
the Embassy of Japan in Austria, made a presentation entitled
"Major Efforts and Actions of Japan on the Fight Against
Terrorism." Sakamoto reported on Japan's Counter Terrorism
(CT) principles, current CT programs and Japan's plans for
strengthening CT efforts in the future. He also touched on
Japan's international cooperation including, inter alia,
Japan's participation in the Proliferation Security
Initiative and Japan's contribution to Operation Enduring
Freedom's Maritime Interdiction Operation (OEF-MIO).


11. (SBU) Sakamoto's presentation was well received, drawing
positive interventions from the U.S., Austria, and Germany.
Japanese reps thanked the U.S. afterwards for its
intervention. Of particular interest was Japan's work on
cyber security. Turkey (Begec) congratulated Sakamoto for a
fine presentation, but also asked if his reference to a war
on "Islamic" terrorism was a change in Japan's policy as,
according to Turkey, Japan has not used this term before.
Turkey's question went unanswered.

Bosnia Praises OSCE Mission
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12. (SBU) Bosnia and Herzegovina provided an overview of the
positive work of the OSCE mission to BiH's Department for
Security and Cooperation (DSC). He praised the DSC for its

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work in support of Dayton arms control and regional
stabilization including, inter alia, SALW and stockpiles
management, assistance in preparing data for Dayton and
Vienna Document (VD) 99 exchanges, and organizing seminars on
legal aspects of defense management.

Agreement on CAT Categories Update
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13. (SBU) The draft decision (FSC.DD/07/08/Rev.2) on updating
reporting categories of weapons and equipment systems subject
to the information exchange on Conventional Arms Transfers
(CAT) was adopted. It has been issued as FSC.DEC/8/08. Per
instructions (Ref C),after the decision was adopted, the
U.S. announced its intention prior to the next data exchange
on CAT to revisit the potential redundancy in exchanging the
same report on CAT in the UN and OSCE.

Landmines, Russia's Naval CSBM, Kyrgyzstan Stockpiles
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14. (SBU) Germany (Schweizer) introduced a new Food for
Thought (FFT) paper, issued under FSC.DEL/126/08, on a more
active role of the OSCE in addressing the problem of
landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW). The joint
proposal from Germany, France and Slovenia drew positive
interventions from the Czech Republic and Ireland, the latter
offering to serve as a co-sponsor. Germany requested comments
on the FFT as soon as possible and welcomed additional pS to
sign up as co-sponsors.


15. (SBU) Russia reminded delegations that Russia's FFT on a
Naval CSBM will be included on the plenary agenda for July

23. Ulyanov said that Russia was looking forward to a
discussion on both the pros and cons of the proposal so that
Russia could make appropriate modifications to the proposal
over the summer break.


16. (SBU) Kyrgyzstan, reporting on its recent data
submissions, noted that Kyrgyzstan welcomed any assistance
from the OSCE to ensure the security of its stockpiles.

WG B Discusses Estonian Proposal on Cyber Security
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17. (SBU) Estonia, speaking in a national capacity,
introduced their FFT on Cyber Security, which envisages a one
off exchange of information on national experience and best
practices as well as holding a seminar or workshop within 12
months.


18. (SBU) Ten pS, including the U.S. (Meyer),made supportive
interventions. There was no outright opposition. Austria
(Eischer) noted that the scope of information to be exchanged
would have to be more focused, while Luxembourg (Pilot)
suggested that it might be wise to hold the workshop first to
determine the scope and follow up with an information
exchange. Canada (Gosal) reported that the 2008 OSCE Police
Security Meeting is scheduled to address Cyber crime, but
that the FSC that both could be held without duplicating
efforts. Despite Estonia's emphasis on military aspects of
Cyber Security, several pS noted that that any decision
would have to include both criminal and military aspects of
Cyber Security.

No Consensus on EUCs in WG A
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19. (SBU) At the Chair's request, the U.S. (Meyer) introduced
its proposed changes to FSC.DD/9/08 on exchanging sample End
Use Certificates (EUC). Drawing from Ref C, the U.S.
outlined its edits, which included adding references to
verification procedures in Op para 1 and changing Op para 2
having EUC's provided by pS posted on the OSCE restricted web
site. Meyer also pointed out that U.S. proposed changes

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would add practical value by including verification text and
would avoid tasking the CPC to assess implementation. Given
the extent of U.S. comments and lacking printed text, most
delegations refrained from making specific comments.


20. (SBU) Poland also submitted an additional edit and
reported that Poland does not have a sample EUC. The Chair
will redistribute this DD with proposed changes and
discussion will resume following the summer recess.


21. (SBU) In a one-on-one discussion following the WG,
Germany (Schweizer) said that he could see the U.S. point on
implementation, but called it a weak argument. He said
Germany agreed that implementation was a pS prerogative, but
that the intent of the proposed overview in Op para 2 is to
compile data so that pS can make their own assessment.

Nor on Destabilizing Transfers of SALW by Air
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22. (SBU) The U.S. reported that it had dropped all but one
of its recommended edits on FSC.DD/10/08, that the U.S. was
flexible on the text, but that it could not accept the
phrasing "adopting best practices." Germany said it insisted
on maintaining the stronger verb "to adopt" but could not
commit immediately to an alternative to the term "best
practices."


23. (SBU) France was markedly upset that the group would not
come to consensus, making it all but inevitable that the
decision would be put off until the autumn session. (Note:
France lobbied the U.S., Germany, Belarus and the Chair hard
individually prior to the meeting, presumably telling each
that the others agreed to the proposed text. End note.)
Canada also expected to reach consensus and urged pS to
accept the phrase "endorse best practices" as a compromise.


24. (SBU) In a quick side bar, Germany asked whether the U.S.
would agree that "endorsed best practices" would be
politically binding. The U.S. responded that it could not
consider "best practices" normative in the OSCE. As a result,
Germany reported that it could not accept Canada's proposal.


25. (SBU) The Chair ended discussion on this topic by
offering to hold an extraordinary session before the plenary
if pS could reach agreement in the interim. On July 17 the
Chair followed up by proposing an informal meeting.
Appearing to take some offense at the notion that Germany was
holding up the decision, Schwiezer replied that Germany was
not the one that brought in changes late and did not feel
pressured to get a response before next week. Without
Germany's support for a meeting, the Chair pushed further
discussion to the autumn session.


26. (SBU) (Note: Germany's comment is a direct inference to
the fact that the U.S. interjected significant edits to the
EUC and SALW documents after the documents had been issued as
Chairman's DDs. Several pS including Germany believed that
both decisions would be adopted this session. In separate
conversions, however, Germany conceded that the EUC document
was rushed through the WG, and another pS lamented that more
time should have been spent initially in informal groups to
negotiate precise language. End Note.)


27. (SBU) The Code of Conduct Coordinator (Austria, Eischer)
summarized the work accomplished this session on the
questionnaire update. In the absence of comments from pS,
Eischer called on pS to forward additional comments as soon
as available.

Spain Announces a VD99 Visit
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28. (SBU) Spain announced that it has scheduled a VD 99
visits (Airbase and Unit) and a possible new weapons

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demonstration for pS scheduled for May 4-7, 2009. Alternative
dates are May 18-21. Invitations will be forthcoming.


29. (SBU) The next FSC Plenary is scheduled for July 23.
This is the last plenary planned under Estonia's able
chairmanship. The working groups are not scheduled to meet
again until the next FSC session begins in September under
the Chairmanship of Finland.
FINLEY