START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA

S E C R E T GENEVA 001079 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) NOTIFICATIONS WORKING GROUP MEETING, NOVEMBER 13, 2009 REF: GENEVA 1032 (SFO-GVA-VII-014) Classified By: A/S Rose E. Gottemoeller, United States START Negotiator. Reasons: 1.4(b) and (d). ¶1. (U) This is SFO-GVA-VII-023. ¶2. (U) Meeting Date: November 13, 2009 Time: 3:30 - 4:50 P.M. Place: U.S. Mission, Geneva -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶3. (S) At the first full meeting of the Notifications Working Group (WG),the sides conducted a review of 92 of the existing 153 START Notification Formats to determine which notifications could be either eliminated or combined. ¶4. (S) The Russian side presented its views on the proposed structure of the Notifications part of the Treaty Protocol and commented on 92 specific formats at the meeting. The U.S. side agreed to review the Russian proposals and provide comments at the next meeting before the Russian side continued its review of the remaining 61 START notifications. ¶5. (U) Subject Summary: Notification Format Review. -------------- NOTIFICATION FORMAT REVIEW -------------- ¶6. (S) On November 11, 2009, Mr. Siemon, during a one-on-one meeting, provided Colonel Ryzhkov with a copy in English and Russian of a U.S. matrix listing the current 153 existing START Notification Formats (REFTEL). The matrix identified each notification by the current START format. In the U.S. matrix, columns were used to provide a brief description of each format, where the notification was located in the respective U.S. and Russian Notification Protocols, if the notification was used in START, and a comments section. ¶7. (S) During this WG meeting, Ryzhkov agreed to the structure that Siemon proposed for the Notifications Part of the Treaty Protocol at the earlier one-on-one meeting (Ref A). Ryzhkov then conducted a detailed line-by-line review of the notifications in the U.S. matrix. ¶8. (S) The sides agreed that it was desirable to reduce the number of specific notifications if possible and to shorten the length of the text in the Notifications part of the Treaty Protocol. Ryzhkov divided the 92 formats that he discussed into six general categories, as follows: (1) START Notification Formats to be retained: 1, 2, 3, 26 (Begin comment: Ryzhkov proposed merging Formats 28, 37, 38,and 88 into Format 26. End Comment.),44, 45, 53-57, (Begin comment: Ryzhkov proposed merging Format 69 into Format 57. End Comment.) and 78. (2) START Notification Formats recommended for deletion: 10, 11-14, 18, 19, 20-25, 27, 29, 32-36, 39-43, 58, 67, 68, 71, 76, 77 and 92. (3) START Notification Formats that could be combined into the existing Format 3, which concerns changes to Memorandum of Understanding data: 4-9, 16, 17, 59-61, 64, 65, 84 and 89-91. (4) START Notification Formats that require resolution of differing views in the positions of the sides: 46-52, 66, 70, 72-74 and 79-82. (5) START Notification Formats requiring additional Russian side review: 62, 63, 75, 83 and 86. (6) START Notification Formats to be replaced with a Miscellaneous/Additional Message: 15, 85 and 87. ¶9. (S) Siemon agreed to review Ryzhkov's comments and to respond with comments from the U.S. side at the next meeting. ¶10. (U) Documents exchanged. None. ¶11. (U) Participants: U.S. Mr. Siemon Mr. Coussa Mr. Dean Mr. Dwyer LTC(P) LaGraffe LTC Leyde Mr. McConnell Ms. Purcell Dr. Hopkins (Int) RUSSIA Col Ryzhkov Mr. Smirnov Ms. Vodopolova Mr. Voloskov Ms. Komshilova (Int) ¶12. (U) Gottemoeller sends. GRIFFITHS