OPEN SKIES: A GOOD MONTH FOR NOVEMBER, INCLUDING

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 USOSCE 000284 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/PRA, EUR/RPM, SCA/CEN JCS FOR COL NORWOOD OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) NSC FOR HAYES E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PARM PREL OSCE SUBJECT: OPEN SKIES: A GOOD MONTH FOR NOVEMBER, INCLUDING "ALTERNATE AIRFIELDS" REF: MARVIN-WRIGHT EMAIL NOVEMBER 18 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) plenary on November 24 agreed on a letter from the OSCC Chairperson to the Ministerial Council summarizing the past year. The Russian-chaired Working Group on Rules and Procedures (IWGRP) agreed on a draft decision on "alternative airfields." This is almost certain to be approved at the OSCC plenary on December 15. Discussion continued on a revision of cost distribution procedures in Decision One to the Open Skies Treaty. End Summary. - - - - Plenary - - - - ¶2. (SBU) During the November 24 OSCC plenary (Chaired by Belarus-Krayushkin),there was agreement to forward the Chair's letter (MC.GAL/6/08/Rev.1) reporting on the OSCC's activities in 2008 to the Helsinki ministerial. (Comment: This smooth work contrasts with the Joint Consultative Group (JCG) which could not agree on a letter regarding its work on the CFE Treaty from its chair to the ministerial, and the OSCE's Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC),which is still struggling with its annual report with how to characterize the August war between Russia and Georgia. As has been the case for several years running, the JCG's annual letter is dead for this year; the FSC letter may remain open and go to Helsinki with its fate decided there. End comment.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Next Meeting of Working Group on Sensors - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶3. (SBU) The U.S. (Neighbour) announced that the next meeting of the Informal Working Group on Sensors (IWGS) will take place December 8 ) 12 in Vienna. He also read a letter (OSCC.SEN/9/08)from IWGS Chair Scott Simmons (United States) which requested that delegations review Simmons' latest proposed Revision One to Decision 14 and prepare comments for the December meeting. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Russia on Recent Observation Missions - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶4. (SBU) Russia (Kozlov) announced that it recently had hosted two successful observation missions, one conducted by Benelex and the other by the U.S.-Romania in a joint observation flight onboard Romania's newly certified AN-30 ;aircraft. Russia also announced that it had completed three active missions over Germany, France, and Spain. Russia also had conducted a training flight over Germany. Kozlov noted that all flights had been carried out within the spirit of the Open Skies Treaty. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Agreement in Working Group on "Alternate Airfields" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶5. (SBU) The Informal Working Group on Rules and Procedures (IWGRP),chaired by Russia (Kozlov),met immediately following the plenary. The most recent version of the draft decision on alternate airfields (OSCC.RP/13/08/Rev.4) was supported by Germany, the U.S., UK, Turkey, Sweden, and Finland. The draft decision will be forwarded to the next plenary on December 15 where formal adoption is almost certain. (NOTE: After the IWGRP, the Slovak delegate (Jancovic) who had taken the lead for NATO during the tedious negotiations process and worked very effectively with the Russians to get them to accept Allies' proposals, thanked USDel for its constructive role during the drafting process. The Russian Chairman (Kozlov) also expressed appreciation to USDel for the constructive U.S. role. End note.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Progress on Cost Distribution ("Rev 5 to Decision 1") USOSCE 00000284 002 OF 003 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶6. (SBU) Discussion continued on Revision Five of Decision Number One to the Treaty on Open Skies (OSCC.RP/17/08,Rev.3/Corr.1). Germany supported the text. USDel (Wright),per ref email, said that it had submitted drafting suggestions to the Chair that attempted to keep "like" concepts/issues together, e.g., language referring to transit flights under certain conditions be dealt with in only one portion of the text and not scattered around the document, observation flights under certain conditions be dealt with in only one portion of the text, and so on. Wright recommended that the second full paragraph, dealing with transit flights, in section V, paragraph 13, be moved to paragraph 11, which also deals with transit flights. Wright also recommended that the last paragraph of section V, paragraph 13 be made into a stand-alone paragraph because it covered a separate issue. Slovakia (Jancovic) supported the U.S. edits. ¶7. (SBU) Turkey (Ercan) suggested breaking section V, paragraph 11 into two paragraphs so that the first half dealing with transit flights and the second half dealing with observation flights would become two distinct paragraphs. The UK (Macleod) stated that the document was still under review in capital, but would take note of the changes proposed today. Macleod noted that the UK might have additional minor edits. The Chair requested that Turkey and Slovakia submit written recommendations and indicated that the proposals may conflict with the proposed submission by the U.S. delegation. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Allies Seem To Be on the Same Page on Costs - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶8. (SBU) After the IWGRP, the U.S., Turkish, and Slovakian delegations discussed their recommendations, which were in line with one another. They agreed that in the spirit of keeping "like" with "like," paragraph 11 of section V should be broken into two paragraphs, so that the first half of the paragraph, dealing with transit flights, would become paragraph 11 and the second half of the paragraph dealing with observation flights would become paragraph 12. They agreed that the language from paragraph 13 that USDel suggested be moved to paragraph 11 should become its own paragraph (i.e., paragraph 13) and follow paragraphs 11 and ¶12. ¶9. (SBU) Lastly, Turkey and Slovakia agreed with the U.S. recommendation that the last paragraph of paragraph 13, section V become its own paragraph (i.e., paragraph 16). Slovakia (Jancovic) and Turkey (Ercan) said they had discussed their proposals with the Chair (Kozlov) immediately following the IWGRP and would not need to submit anything in writing since they were now supporting the U.S. approach. The Turkish delegation also expressed that the Russian language (now suggested as paragraphs 13 and 16) was still vague. USDel (Wright) agreed to follow up with the Chair to indicate that the proposals did not seem to conflict. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - German Draft on Prolonging Work on Sensors - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¶10. (SBU) On the margins of the meetings, USDel (Neighbour) shared with Germany (Ratzlaff) U.S. edits to the German draft of a decision to prolong the work of the Informal Working Group on Sensors (IWGS) into 2009. USDel (Neighbour and Wright) discussed with the UK (Macleod) the need to prod the group along in a productive way, so that extending the mandate did not become routine practice. Macleod agreed with the need to "give the process a little more urgency," and suggested building in a reporting requirement after 6 months that might create an incentive for the IWGS to be more efficient. Germany (Ratzlaff) told USDel that he thought there was still time to consider the draft decision, which he USOSCE 00000284 003 OF 003 believed did not have to be approved at the December plenary, but could wait until January. - - - - - - - Next Meeting - - - - - - - ¶11. (SBU) The next OSCC plenary and the last under Belarus chairmanship will take place on December 15. The next IWGRP will meet on December 8 at 10:00 a.m. prior to the first session of the IWGS, which will convene at 11:00 a.m. on the same day. Belgium assumes the chairmanship in 2009. Although Belgium has yet to propose a schedule of meetings for the winter session, the first OSCC for 2009 probably will be on/about Monday, January 26. FINLEY