START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA

S E C R E T GENEVA 001131 SIPDIS DEPT FOR T, VCI 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: 12/09/2019 TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA (SFO-GVA-VII): (U) NOTIFICATIONS WORKING GROUP MEETING, DECEMBER 2, 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-084. ¶2. (U) Meeting Date: December 2, 2009 Time: 10:30 A.M. - 11:20 P.M. Q Place: Russian Mission, Geneva -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶3. (S) The one-on-one chairman's meeting focused on taking stock of where the two sides were with respect to a future Notifications Joint Draft Text (JDT) and reviewed the U.S. concept for what the future JDT would look like. The Russian Federation proposed to review Treaty Article VIII, however, the U.S. side had not received the translation of the Russian text so was not in a position to meet. End Summary. ¶4. (U) SUBJECT SUMMARY: Conversion or Elimination Notifications; and Draft Notification Protocol. -------------- CONVERSION OR ELIMINATION NOTIFICATIONS -------------- ¶5. (S) At a one-on-one meeting of the Notifications Working Group, Mr. Dwyer confirmed that the U.S. side had studied the Russian proposals on retaining, deleting, combining, or modifying 153 START Notification formats with respect to the application to the new treaty. He noted that the Russian Federation had proposed 19 formats to be combined under START Format 3, Notification of Change in Data in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The U.S. side agreed with combining 14, but not with 5. Dwyer proposed that formats 59, 60, 61, and 64 remain distinct and be part of Section IV (Notifications on Conversion or Elimination (CorE)) of the Notifications Part of the Treaty Protocol. ¶6. (S) Col Ryzhkov had no objections and replied that this corresponded with his team's thinking concerning notifications--to have as few notifications and formats as possible. Ryzhkov reminded Dwyer that Russia had initially proposed having three formats for conversion and three for elimination. He continued, however, that it might be possible to have a total of three CorE notifications. One notification would correspond to an intention to CorE, one notification would cover the initiation of a CorE activity, while the final notification would highlight the completion of a CorE activity. Each notification would be applicable to all types of strategic offensive arms (SOA) and would use a "type" line in the format. Ryzhkov continued that a further reduction in the number of formats could be achieved by using the notification on the change on MOU data (Notification #3) for the completion of a CorE activity, as a CorE of SOA would result in a change in the reportable MOU data. Ryzhkov concluded by saying that reducing the number of notifications to the minimum essential was a desirable goal. Dwyer responded that combining and eliminating unnecessary notifications was a shared goal. -------------- DRAFT NOTIFICATIONS PROTOCOL -------------- ¶7. (S) Dwyer stated that the United States had prepared a draft working paper on Part IV of the Protocol to the Treaty: Notifications. The paper accounted for the Russian positions and the results of recent discussions. Dwyer informed Ryzhkov that the paper was currently being translated and the intent was to deliver it on Thursday so that discussions between the two sides of the concepts and path forward could take place Friday morning. Ryzhkov replied that he and his team would review it and use the text as a starting point for the Notifications Joint Draft Text. Dwyer reiterated that it would be delivered as soon as the translation was complete. Ryzhkov concluded by requesting a meeting the next morning with Mr. Siemon to discuss Treaty Article VIII. Dwyer promised to relay the message on to Mr. Siemon. ¶8. (U) Documents provided: None. ¶9. (U) Participants: U.S. Mr. Dwyer LTC LaGraffe Dr. Hopkins (Int) RUSSIA Col Ryzhkov Mr. Smirnov Ms. Komshilova (Int) ¶10. (U) Gottemoeller sends. GRIFFITHS