KAZAKHSTAN'S INITIAL RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE TO PREVENT THE TRANSFER OF URANIUM TO IRAN

S E C R E T ASTANA 002257



SIPDIS



STATE FOR ISN, SCA/CEN



E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/30/2029

TAGS: PGOV, PREL, PARM, MNUC, KNNP, IR, JA, KZ

SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN'S INITIAL RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE TO

PREVENT THE TRANSFER OF URANIUM TO IRAN



REF: SECSTATE 131723



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



1. (S) SUMMARY: The government of Kazakhstan initially

respondedQeptically to a U.S. non-paper alleging that Iran

is negotiating to buy a large amount of yellowcake uranium

from KazAtomProm, but promised to undertake a serious

investigation and report its findings to Embassy Astana. It

is possible the investigation will be slightly slowed because

the Kazakhstani government closes early on December 31 in

observance of New Year and will not re-open again until

January 4. END SUMMARY.



2. (S) In response to December 29 e-mailed information from

USUN Vienna that the Associated Press (AP) was about to

publish a report alleging that Iran was in the late stages of

negotiating to buy a very large quantity of yellowcake

uranium from an entity in Kazakhstan associated with

KazAtomProm (KAP),the Department instructed the Ambassador

to raise the matter urgently in Astana at the highest

possible level. On December 29, the Ambassador met with

State Secretary-Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, a close

confidante of President Nursultan Nazarbayev. The Ambassador

passed to Saudabayev the as yet unpublished AP report and

told him that if this is true, it is a huge problem, a

violation of UNSCR 1737, a violation of the principles of the

Nuclear Suppliers Group (of which Kazakhstan is a member),

and would seriously harm the U.S.-Kazakhstan relationship.

The Ambassador asked Saudabayev to bring this report urgently

to the attention of the proper officials in the government of

Kazakhstan.



3. (S) Saudabayev said, "My initial response is nyet, nyet,

and nyet. This cannot be true. Give me the full report and

we will follow up and look into every detail. If this is

true, it would violate the principles of our policy since

independence. We have always been the strongest supporters

of non-proliferation. Please give us complete details

soonest, and we will investigate fully."



4. (S) With the AP report having appeared later on December

29, the Ambassador delivered on December 30 to Deputy Foreign

Minister Kairat Umarov, who had been in the previous day's

meeting, the U.S. interagency-cleared non-paper from para

eight of reftel. Umarov said that following the December 29

meeting, the Foreign Ministry had immediately gotten in touch

with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral ResQces (MEMR),

which is responsible for KAP. According to Umarov, MEMR's

initial response was that such a large volume of yellowcake

uranium could not be transferred without notice. Kazakhstan

maintains a strong export control regime and stringent

control of its ports. There has been and there will be no

negotiations with Iran on something this sensitive. It is

not credible, MEMR added, that rogue individuals could be

involved because Kazakhstan maintains strict government

control over its uranium stocks. Umarov added that KAP

expects to release an initial response to the AP report later

on December 30.



5. (S) Umarov added that the Foreign Ministry's initial

response on December 29 had been that the AP report must be

"false information." With fuller information from the

non-paper, the government of Kazakhstan will continue to

investigate, but, he said, it would be easier if we could

provide more detailed information. He also asked that we

provide a read-out of any response from the government of

Japan. The Ambassador urged that the government of

Kazakhstan take this matter with the utmost seriousness and

provide a full account of its investigation, preferably no

later than January 5. (NOTE: It is possible the

investigation will be slightly slowed because the Kazakhstani

government, except for essential services, closes early on

December 31 in observance of New Year and will not re-open

again until January 4. END NOTE.)



6. (S) GRPOQesented the same non-paper to appropriate

counterparts and strongly encouraged them to investigate

thoroughly.



7. (SBU) On December 30, the Interfax-Kazakhstan News

Agency, citing the AP report published by the "Guardian" in

the UK, broke the story in Kazakhstan. A spokesman of the

government of Kazakhstan responded that all of its uranium

activities fully comply with IAEA safeguards, and is

investigating the report. An official response will be



forthcoming within a few days, the spokesman said.



8. (S) COMMENT: Because the AP report was datelined Vienna

where ex-First Son-in-Law Rakhat Aliyev is believed to be in

exile, the initial knee-jerk reaction of some in the

government of Kazakhstan was likely that this must be one

more attempt by Aliyev to blacken Kazakhstan's image.

However, we believe the government of Kazakhstan is fully

aware of the seriousness of this report and its potential

ramifications and will investigate it fully. Any futher

detail that we might be able to provide would assist in that

investigation. END COMMENT.

HOAGLAND