KAZAKHSTAN: SAUDABAYEV ON NUCLEAR SECURITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 001444

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/CE, ISN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/28/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PHUM KNNP KDEM OSCE AU KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: SAUDABAYEV ON NUCLEAR SECURITY
SUMMIT, RAKHAT ALIYEV, OSCE

REF: A. ASTANA 1328

B. ASTANA 1439

Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (B),(D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: During an August 27 meeting, State
Secretary Kanat Saudabayev told the Ambassador:

-- President Nazarbayev still wants an Oval Office meeting
when he travels to Washington next spring for the Nuclear
Security Summit and is willing to be flexible about the
timing;

-- Kazakhstan remains suspicious that the United States has
contact with Nazarbayev's exiled ex-son-in-law, Rakhat
Aliyev, and fears we might offer him asylum; and

-- The Presidency is irked with the OSCE Head of Mission in
Astana who said in a recent local press interview that
there's still a one-percent chance Kazakhstan might be denied
the 2010 OSCE Chairmanship because of democracy and human
rights issues. END SUMMARY.

NUCLEAR SECURITY SUMMIT


2. (C) The Ambassador met with State Secretary Kanat
Saudabayev on August 27 to give him an interim response to
the request he had made on August 3 that President Nursultan
Nazarbayev combine his participation in the Spring 2010
Nuclear Security Summit in the United States with a bilateral
visit that would include an Oval Office meeting (ref A). The
Ambassador told Saudabayev that planning for the Nuclear
Security Summit is under way and that details should be
forthcoming. He advised Saudabayev that deliverables for the
summit will be discussed with participants in advance, and
noted that about 30 heads of state will be jostling for White
House attention; however, the Administration has not ruled
out an Obama-Nazarbayev meeting "sometime in the spring."
The Ambassador hastened to add that this preliminary
information does not/not constitute an "official invitation,"
and that he was providing it simply to be responsive to
Saudabayev's August 3 request. Saudabayev said he thoroughly
understood. He suggested that an optimal scenario, should a
bilateral visit be confirmed, would be for Nazarbayev to
arrive in Washington three or four days before the summit or
stay in the United States after it for three or four days.
Nazarbayev would use the extra time to visit New York and
possibly the headquarters of international oil companies that
are heavily invested in Caspian Sea projects.

RAKHAT ALIYEV REDUX


3. (C) When the brief, business-like meeting seemed to be
over, Saudabayev paused and then said, "I need you to look me
in the eye and tell me once again that your government has no
official contact of any kind with Rakhat Aliyev,"
Nazarbayev's estranged ex-son-in-law currently exiled in
Europe, "and that you will not allow him into the United
States. We know that he has 'offered himself' to you." The
Ambassador responded, "I can confirm to you that we do not
have any kind of contact whatsoever with Aliyev, we do not
want any contact with him, and we would not want to see him
in the United States because we understand clearly that would
be a disaster for the bilateral relationship." The
Ambassador cautioned that it is possible Aliyev might have
some contact with U.S. journalists, lawyers, or public
relations people, but repeated the U.S. government does not
have and does not want any sort of contact with Aliyev. He
added that if Kazakhstan has listed Aliyev with Interpol,
that would help prevent him from inadvertently being issued a
visa and slipping into the United States. Saudabayev

ASTANA 00001444 002 OF 002


confirmed Kazakhstan has indeed listed Aliyev with Interpol
and with "every other agency possible."


4. (C) The Ambassador asked why this Aliyev issue has come
up again. Saudabayev responded, "His 'criminal partner'
(former KNB Chairman Alnur) Musayev has just turned against
him, he will have mounting problems in Austria, we know he is
not welcome in London," then he paused and added, "and we
continue to have indications 'your people' might want to give
him asylum in the United States. That would be a
catastrophe." The Ambassador repeated his "do not have
contact, do not want contact" mantra. Saudabayev seemed
reassured and said, "All right. We trust you. The President
believes you personally are seriously trying to build the
relationship he wants with the United States. We are pleased
that our bilateral relationship has become stable,
predictable, positive, and is growing step by step. But it
takes two to tango. We are reciprocating President Obama's
positive impulses. It appears both sides are trying to be
'understanding realists.'"

DISPLEASURE WITH OSCE AMBASSADOR'S PRESS INTERVIEW


5. (C) Saudabayev said that his government was "perplexed"
by OSCE Head of Mission in Kazakhstan, Ambassador Aleksandre
Keltchewsky's "intemperate" comments in his two-part
interview recently published in the widely read newspaper,
"Liter," in which he raised the "one-percent" possibility
that Kazakhstan might still be denied the 2010 OSCE
Chairmanship because of democracy and human-rights issues.
Clearly irritated, Saudabayev said, "I think he needs a dose
of 'realistic understanding.' He needs to understand that
those who once stood at the barricades now sit at the same
table (at the OSCE). The name of that organization includes
the word, 'security,' and more attention should be paid to
that aspect. Four of the world's nuclear powers are OSCE
members, but what has OSCE ever done for nuclear disarmament
and non-proliferation? Not very much!" (NOTE:
Non-proliferation has become one of Saudabayev's signature
issues. In fact, on the day of this meeting, he had just
returned at 4:00 am from a meeting on nuclear issues in
Nagasaki, Japan, where, he said, he had been most impressed
by the U.S. head of delegation, Susan Burk. END NOTE.)
Saudabayev concluded, "We fully understand and respect that
the OSCE has three dimensions. We would hope that others
understand that, too."

"HE'S A CLEVER GUY"


6. (C) At the end of the meeting, The Ambassador commented
that he had read Presidential Policy Adviser Yermukhamet
Yetysbayev's recent "Liter" interview (ref B) very closely
and had found it most interesting. Saudabayev smiled
enigmatically and said only, "He's a clever guy."
HOAGLAND