START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA

S E C R E T GENEVA 001079

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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

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SUMMARY
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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.

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NOTIFICATION FORMAT REVIEW
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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