Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09GENEVA1072
2009-11-28 10:59:00
SECRET
Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA

Tags:  KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START 
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DE RUEHGV #1072/01 3321059
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 281059Z NOV 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0345
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/CJCS WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/VCJCS WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHNSC/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO IMMEDIATE 5507
RHMFISS/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE IMMEDIATE
RUENAAA/CNO WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHMFISS/DIRSSP WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
INFO RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA PRIORITY 2684
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV PRIORITY 1694
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 6901
S E C R E T GENEVA 001072 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR T, VC AND EUR/PRA
DOE FOR NNSA/NA-24
CIA FOR WINPAC
JCS FOR J5/DDGSA
SECDEF FOR OSD(P)/STRATCAP
NAVY FOR CNO-N5JA AND DIRSSP
AIRFORCE FOR HQ USAF/ASX AND ASXP
DTRA FOR OP-OS OP-OSA AND DIRECTOR
NSC FOR LOOK
DIA FOR LEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2019
TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START
SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA
(SFO-GVA-VII): (U) TREATY TEXT WORKING GROUP MEETING,
NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Classified By: A/S Rose E. Gottemoeller, United States
START Negotiator. Reasons: 1.4(b) and (d).

S E C R E T GENEVA 001072

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR T, VC AND EUR/PRA
DOE FOR NNSA/NA-24
CIA FOR WINPAC
JCS FOR J5/DDGSA
SECDEF FOR OSD(P)/STRATCAP
NAVY FOR CNO-N5JA AND DIRSSP
AIRFORCE FOR HQ USAF/ASX AND ASXP
DTRA FOR OP-OS OP-OSA AND DIRECTOR
NSC FOR LOOK
DIA FOR LEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/28/2019
TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START
SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA
(SFO-GVA-VII): (U) TREATY TEXT WORKING GROUP MEETING,
NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Classified By: A/S Rose E. Gottemoeller, United States
START Negotiator. Reasons: 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (U) This is SFO-GVA-VII-026.


2. (U) Meeting Date: November 16, 2009
Time: 3:40 - 5:35 P.M.
Place: U.S. Mission, Geneva

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


3. (S) The fourth meeting of the Treaty Text and Definitions
Working Group (TTDWG) was held at the U.S. Mission on
November 16, 2009. The TTDWG discussed sending treaty text
to the Conforming Group. Both sides agreed that if there
were a limited number of bracketed items remaining within the
text, some articles could be sent to begin the conforming
process. A long legal discussion ensued related to Article
XV on the correctness of the word "termination" vice the term
"withdraw" as it applies to getting out of the treaty.
Discussion moved on to Article VII, but was stopped as the
Russian Delegation argued that the text should be addressed
by the Conversion or Elimination (CorE) Working Group first.
Article VIII on the exchange of notifications and data was
discussed to clarify the words "removal" versus "exclusion"
and the Parties' public release authorities of Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) data. Finally, there was a discussion on
Article XIII and the interpretation of the word "kind" in
reference to new kinds of strategic offensive arms (SOA).
Both sides agreed to call the treaty implementation
commission the Bilateral Consultative Commission (BCC).


4. (U) Subject Summary Treaty Text Conforming; Treaty
Termination Legalities; Conversion or Elimination Article;
MOU Article; and, Bilateral Consultative Commission.

--------------
TREATY TEXT CONFORMING
--------------



5. (S) Amb Ries opened the meeting by suggesting the current
negotiation timeline required the conforming process be run
in parallel with continuing negotiations. She noted that
conforming needed to be efficient, but also careful. Ries
stated that, since the two sides had already agreed to a
conforming process, some treaty articles could be sent to
conforming once the TTDWG had removed those brackets it
could. Then, when the remaining brackets on issues of
principle were resolved, the final conforming steps would be
simple and quick. Ries suggested starting from the end of
the treaty and working forward because the last few articles
had been fully discussed in the TTDWG and were largely agreed
upon. The Parties agreed to send Articles XV, XVI and XVII
to the Conforming Group and reiterated that official versions
in English and Russian needed to be exchanged.

--------------
TREATY TERMINATION LEGALITIES
--------------


6. (S) Following the conforming discussion on Article XV,


Koshelev opened a discussion on the correct legal way to
express a Party's ability to "withdraw" or "terminate" the
treaty. This was a discussion continued from a previous
meeting at which the U.S. side expressed that "withdraw" was
the term used in similar arms control agreements. The
Russian Delegation re-engaged the discussion with their
newly-arrived legal advisor, Mr. Lobach, and referenced
international law covering treaties as it applied to
bilateral treaties. Lobach maintained that a bilateral
treaty must be "terminated" since there were only two Parties
and that "withdrawal" only applied to multilateral treaties,
since the treaty would remain in force for the remaining
Parties. Mr. Dean reiterated the U.S. position that the term
"withdraw" was accepted terminology in arms control treaties.
Both sides provided examples of treaties which represented
their preferred terminology. After further discussion, the
sides concurred that this may be a conforming issue in the
language. However, the Russian Delegation agreed to provide
a proposed alternative for the next meeting. Both sides
concurred that the article, with brackets, should go to the
Conforming Group.

--------------
CONVERSION OR ELIMINATION ARTICLE
--------------


7. (S) The discussion moved to Article VII (CorE) of which
the U.S. Delegation had provided a revised joint draft text
in advance. Koshelev explained the new RussiaQformulation
for Article VII, which was to reinsert the original Russian
language that inspections should be conducted after the
completion of conversion or elimination procedures. He noted
that Colonel Ryzhkov insisted on including the language in
paragraph 2(b) on inspections and that the CorE Working Group
needed to resolve the brackets. Ries countered that, while
the inspection provisions were covered in Article XI, the
inspectors would need to confirm the procedures during the
process and not merely once the process was complete. She
maintained that the Russian-proposed language for paragraph
2(b) would preclude that possibility. In that, Koshelev
agreed and again recommended the article be remanded to the
CorE Working Group to resolve. Both sides decided the text
of the Article was agreed upon in enough areas that it could
be sent to conforming.

--------------
NOTIFICATIONS ARTICLE
--------------


8. (S) The Parties discussed Article VIII on notifications.
The U.S.-proposed text, "...or other removal from
accountability" in paragraph 3(e) generated a language
interpretation discussion. In Russian, the term would be
translated as "exclusion" instead of "removal." The subtle
differences in English were explained to the Russian
Delegation. "Exclusion" meant that something was never a
part of a set, while "removal" indicated that at some point,
the item was part of the set and later was not. Using
examples from the conformed START Treaty text found in
Section VIII of the CorE Protocol, the Russian Delegation
agreed that "removal" was the appropriate term.


9. (S) The Parties then had a long discussion on the public


release authority captured in paragraphs 6 and 7. The U.S.
side explained that the U.S. approach would provide for the
public release of the same elements of data as had been
agreed upon in START, while new additional text covered the
data on aggregate nuclear warheads. Following the
discussion, the Russian Delegation stated that it understood
the U.S. position more clearly and would study it further.
Admiral Kuznetsov asked whether non-nuclear warhead
information would be released. Ries stated that the
information to be released concerning warheads would be in
line with the information on warheads in Article II, and
decisions on the U.S.-proposed package could impact these
paragraphs.

--------------
BILATERAL CONSULTATIVE COMMISSION
--------------


10. (S) Ries moved to Article XIII which covered the BCC.
She stated that, after further review and consultation with
the U.S. Nuclear Risk Reduction Center, the U.S. Delegation
believed there would be no confusion with other treaties if
both sides settled on the name "Bilateral Consultative
Commission" for the implementation commission. Koshelev was
happy to agree. Koshelev then questioned the U.S.-proposed
text in paragraph (c),"...application of relevant provisions
of this Treaty to a new kind of strategic offensive arm."
First, Koshelev maintained that "kind" and "type" were
equivalent in Russian. He asked what was meant by a new kind
of SOA. Ries explained that it would be a new system that
was not an ICBM, SLBM, or heavy bomber, and with such a new
system, not all the treaty provisions would necessarily apply
to that new kind. Koshelev again noted that he could not
envision what a new "kind" of SOA might be that was not
another type and further argued it was wrong to state that
not all provisions would apply. He asserted that all
provisions of the treaty were always in force. Lastly,
Koshelev made some remarks indicating that the Russian
Delegation agreed that anything new should be brought to the
BCC; however, he did not continue to elaborate and ended the
discussion.


11. (U) Documents exchanged.

- U.S.:

-- U.S.-proposed Joint Draft Text of Article XIII (in
official English),dated November 16, 2009.

- Russia:

-- New Russian-proposed Joint Draft Text of Article VII
(in Russian and unofficial English),dated November 16, 2009.


12. (U) Participants:

U.S.

Amb Ries
Lt Col Comeau
Mr. Connell
Mr. Dean
Dr. Fraley


LTC LaGraffe
Ms. Pura
Mr. Taylor
Mrs. Zdravecky
Mr. Sobchenko (Int)

RUSSIA

Mr. Koshelev
Ms. Fuzhenkova
Mr. Kamenskiy
Asm Kuznetsov
Mr. Lobach
Mr. Luchaninov
Ms. Melikbekian
Mr. Trifonov
Ms. Evarovskaya (Int)


13. (U) Gottemoeller sends.
GRIFFITHS