ALLIES APPRECIATIVE FOR READOUT ON JULY 29 CFE

C O N F I D E N T I A L USOSCE 000202 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/05/2014 TAGS: KCFE OSCE PARM PREL NATO SUBJECT: ALLIES APPRECIATIVE FOR READOUT ON JULY 29 CFE MEETING REF: SECSTATE 83574 Classified By: Chief Arms Control Delegate Hugh Neighbour ¶1. (C) USDel provided oral readout (reftel) of the July 29 meeting between Assistant Secretary Fried and Russian MFA Arms Control Director Antonov to OSCE delegations of NATO members on August 5. Although the OSCE is on its summer recess and most delegations are operating with skeleton staffing, 16 NATO delegations attended. Lively questioning followed, with most questions centering on modalities around next steps (details of which have yet to be worked out). Many, if not most, Allied delegates had already received reports from their Washington embassies of the briefing A/S Fried gave to NATO Allies on August 1. Nonetheless, Allied delegations seemed genuinely interested and deeply appreciative to get a briefing in Vienna. SCOTT