KAZAKHSTAN: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON ARMS SALE TO

S E C R E T ASTANA 000956 SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN, SCA/CEN E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2059 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PARM PTER ETTC MARR MCAP MOPS KZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: DEMARCHE DELIVERED ON ARMS SALE TO SYRIA REF: SECSTATE 56723 Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland, 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (S) Ambassador delivered demarche in reftel on June 5 to Presidential Foreign Policy Advisor Kairat Sarybai, including verbatim point. Ambassador stressed the importance of preventing the proliferation of weapons and military-related items and told Sarybai, "We do need to have a reply to this message." ¶2. (S) Sarybai said that the government of Kazakhstan takes the issue of the transfer of military-related items to Syria very seriously. He said the government has "always worked well" with the government of the United States to prevent third-party proliferation of lethal military equipment. Sarybai further observed that nonproliferation is "a top priority of certain services" in the government and he promised to raise this issue directly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and would "use other channels" to raise it with "other government agencies" (read: the Committee for National Security, or KNB). ¶3. (S) The Ambassador will also deliver the demarche to an appropriate official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as soon as possible. HOAGLAND