START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA

S E C R E T GENEVA 001107

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2019
TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START
SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA
(SFO-GVA-VII): HEADS OF DELEGATION MEETING, NOVEMBER 28,
2009

REF: A. GENEVA 01061 (SFO-GVA-VII-045)

B. GENEVA 01065 (SFO-GVA-VII-047)

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


1. (U) This is SFO-GVA-VII-065.


2. (U) Meeting Date: November 28, 2009
Time: 11:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M.
Place: U.S. Mission, Geneva

Participants:

U.S. RUSSIA

A/S Gottemoeller Amb Antonov
LTC Leyde Mr. Vorontsov

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SUMMARY
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3. (S) Assistant Secretary Gottemoeller and Ambassador
Antonov conducted a Heads of Delegation (HOD) meeting on
November 28, 2009. The Russian side received updated
guidance from Moscow earlier in the day which was to be
discussed in an afternoon plenary session. Gottemoeller
relayed the interest that Washington had concerning Russian
Gen Makarov's suggestion on telemetry, which envisioned
encrypting flight test data and exchanging encryption keys.
Antonov expressed concern about the planned arrival of a
National Security Council (NSC)-Department of Defense (DoD)
group from the U.S. side, as both sides are preparing for a
final push to conclude the treaty early in the second week of
December.


4. (S) SUBJECT SUMMARY: Russian Delegation Gets Updated
Guidance; Russian Side: Help Not Wanted...; ...But the CJSC
is Another Matter; Telemetry: Part of a New Relationship?;
and Push to the Finish.

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RUSSIAN DELEGATION GETS UPDATED GUIDANCE
--------------


5. (S) Antonov opened the meeting and said the Russian
delegation had received updated guidance from Moscow and was
still analyzing it. The guidance contained Moscow's response
to U.S.-proposals that were tabled during the meetings
between Adm Mullen and Gen Makarov (Refs A and B) and NSA Gen
Jones and NSA Prikhodko. Antonov said the Russian side had
serious proposals, and would like all of the principal
members to hear them in a plenary session that would take
place later in the day.

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RUSSIAN SIDE: HELP NOT WANTED...
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6. (S) Antonov said he was concerned about the scheduled
arrival of U.S. officials from the NSC and DoD, and
rhetorically asked how should Moscow react? Should Moscow


send a similar group? Gottemoeller inquired as to how
Antonov came to know about the travel plans of these
officials; Antonov replied that Amb Kislyak had informed him.
Antonov expressed concern that the arrival of these
officials could have a negative effect on the work of the
delegations. Antonov emphasized that the Russian side has
full authority to make decisions itself. Each side had its
instructions.

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...BUT THE CJSC IS ANOTHER MATTER
--------------


7. (S) Antonov said that he felt the visit of Makarov was
useful and that it gave Makarov a "taste of the
negotiations." He said that the trip made a positive
difference in Makarov's understanding of the issues.
Gottemoeller added that she had communicated with Adm Mullen,
who offered to engage Makarov or potentially to meet Makarov
in Moscow if it would help in the successful conclusion of
negotiations. Antonov noted that Mullen's engagement was
indeed helpful, and opined that only the policy on
Afghanistan was higher on President Obama's agenda than the
treaty negotiations.

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TELEMETRY: PART OF A NEW RELATIONSHIP?
--------------


8. (S) Gottemoeller brought up the issue of telemetry for
discussion. She said that Washington had great interest in
the suggestion made by Makarov during the final coffee with
Mullen that telemetric flight test data could be encrypted,
but that the Russian Federation and the United States would
exchange the data and the encryption keys. She indicated
that this topic could be included in an upcoming phone
discussion between Presidents Obama and Medvedev.
Gottemoeller said such an agreement could lead to an
expression of a new, special relationship on encryption
between the United States and Russia, allowing each side to
exchange and understand flight test data of the other side.
This could be an important provision for Senate ratification
as well. Additional benefits would be the protection of the
data from third parties, and therefore strengthening of
missile technology controls. Gottemoeller said that the
number of flight tests where encryption could be used was a
separate issue. Antonov reacted positively, but expressed
doubt that Russia would adopt all of the U.S. positions on
telemetry.


9. (S) Gottemoeller suggested that each side may need to
have specialists in telemetry sent to Geneva to discuss the
technical details, and inquired if Col Novikov or Col Zaitsev
had the necessary expertise. Antonov said that while the
Russian delegation did not have telemetry specialists, he
felt that this issue was more political than technical, and
that Gen Poznikhir had sufficient understanding of the
technical details so that a specialist from Moscow would not
be necessary.


10. (S) Beyond telemetry, Antonov said the other main points
of disagreement remained, and listed the relationship between
strategic offense and ballistic missile defense, including


reconversion of silo launchers that had been converted for
interceptor use.


11. (S) Antonov made an observation about the U.S. Senate's
views on verification. Several years ago, he noted, the
Republican view was that a strict verification regime was
unnecessary. Today, he continued, the Republicans have
reversed position and called for strict verification.

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PUSH TO THE FINISH
--------------


12. (S) Antonov said that comments in the press by Deputy
MFA Ryabkov and MFA Lavrov have ensured the sides are "doomed
for success" in concluding the treaty this year. Antonov
said that the Russian delegation had attempted to change its
departure date from December 6 to December 13. Some
technical details remained before this could be confirmed.
He believed the treaty could be ready for signature between
December 9-11, and highlighted December 11 as the most
probable date. He reiterated that the treaty should be
signed in Geneva and that Copenhagen or Finland would be
unsuitable.


13. (S) Gottemoeller noted that as the sides come closer to
finishing the negotiations, there will be a great increase in
the amount of text that would need to be conformed. She
challenged the Russian side to be less "allergic" to language
used in START, which had already been conformed. She said
that in anticipation of such efforts, the U.S. side is
augmenting its legal team. Antonov did not know whether the
Russian side would need to augment its legal team.
Concerning issues of the conforming process itself,
Gottemoeller and Antonov agreed to talk with the conforming
teams on Tuesday to reinforce the guidelines and get the
conforming teams to work more efficiently.


14. (S) Antonov also mentioned that in the next day there
would be a new director of the Legal Department within the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb Givorgan, who previously had
been the Russian Ambassador to The Hague.


15. (S) Gottemoeller opined that Thanksgiving was probably
the last day off for the delegations and that work would
continue daily until the treaty was completed. She said that
the U.S. side would like the Inspection Protocol Working
Group (IPWG) to meet daily, and potentially twice a day.
Antonov replied that the Russian side would need to review
staffing before he could agree to two-a-day meetings for the
IPWG.


16. (S) On other personnel matters, Antonov said that
Ryabkov had told him that Gen Orlov and Col Ilin, who had
been summoned to Moscow to report to Minister of Defense
Serdyukov, would return no later than Monday evening. In
Ilin's absence, Col Petrov had full authority to implement
and make decisions within guidance. Petrov was now
authorized to stay until the treaty was concluded.


17. (U) Documents exchanged: None.


18. (U) Gottemoeller sends.


GRIFFITHS