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passed to Saudabayev the as yet unpublished AP report and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