Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09GENEVA780
2009-09-24 15:40:00
SECRET
Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA (SFO-GVA-V):

Tags:  KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START 
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DE RUEHGV #0780/01 2671540
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O 241540Z SEP 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9309
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 4752
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 1937
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV PRIORITY 0931
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 6127
S E C R E T GENEVA 000780 

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: 09/24/2019
TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START
SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA (SFO-GVA-V):
HEADS AND DEPUTY HEADS OF DELEGATION MEETING, SEPEMBER 21,
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 000780

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: 09/24/2019
TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START
SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, GENEVA (SFO-GVA-V):
HEADS AND DEPUTY HEADS OF DELEGATION MEETING, SEPEMBER 21,
2009

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


1. (U) This is SFO-GVA-V-001.


2. (U) Meeting Date: September 21, 2009
Time: 10:15 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Place: Russian Mission, Geneva
Participants:

U.S. Russia

Assistant Secretary Gottemoeller Ambassador Antonov
Ambassador Ries Mr. Koshelev
Dr. Warner


3. (S) On Monday, September 21, 2009 at 10:15 a.m., a coffee
took place at the Russian Mission prior to the start of the
first plenary meeting of the session. Ambassador Antonov
opened the discussion by noting the very positive nature of
President Obama's decision on the missile defense sites in
Poland and the Czech Republic, which had taken place on
September 16. He then stated interest in further
developments in U.S. missile defense programs, raising a
long-standing Russian concern that mobile components of
missile defense may take on a strategic character. For that
reason, he said, Ambassador Kislyak had requested in
Washington that a team be sent to Geneva to brief Russian
technical experts on present U.S. plans. Minister of Foreign
Affairs Lavrov, he said, had urgently requested such a
briefing, in order to be prepared for the upcoming meeting
between the U.S. and Russian Presidents. The meeting was
requested in Geneva, he explained, because all of the best
Russian technical experts on missile defenses were
participating on the START Delegation. We could set aside
some time one afternoon, Antonov said, for them to be briefed.


4. (S) A/S Gottemoeller said that she would pass the message
back to Washington, but that it would be difficult to

organize such a briefing in Geneva, most of all because the
two delegations should stay focused on the START talks. Very
little time remains before December, she said, and the
delegations really need to focus their attention. However,
she knew that Amb Kislyak would be briefed by the White House
if he had not been briefed already. (Begin comment: This
briefing did take place on September 21 in Washington. End
comment.) Furthermore, the United States intended to provide
a thorough technical briefing to the Russian side just as
soon as it could be scheduled.


5. (S) Antonov turned to START. He said the Russian side
had gotten the go-ahead from the President's office to hand
over their draft of the treaty annex, which would consolidate
into one document the multiple documents that in START had
covered inspections, conversion or elimination, data
exchange, notifications, and other matters. The text would
be provided in Russian. When Gottemoeller noted that it was
difficult to work without an informal English translation
provided by the Russian side, Antonov apologized for the lack
of depth on the Russian language services bench. He said it
was his problem, but he asked for understanding: he simply
did not have enough translators. He stated that he had
invited Mr. Artemyev, an experienced hand who had retired, to


join the delegation as an expert, so that he now had four
translators and an expert who could help with conforming.


6. (S) Gottemoeller noted that the Presidents would be
meeting later in the week, and that President Obama would
give a generally positive assessment of the negotiations so
far, but stress the need to accelerate the pace of work.
Antonov said that if the two Presidents agreed on that point
publicly, it would help him to force the pace with his
delegation. Gottemoeller then turned to the schedule that
the U.S. side had proposed, including work in Geneva through
October 2, then a break to return to capitals October 5-9,
and a meeting in Moscow during the week of October 11 for a
small group made up of the U.S. agency heads. The
delegations would then return to Geneva on or about October
19, and begin meeting in continuous session until the treaty
was completed. Antonov said that he could see the schedule
clearly through November 1, and he agreed to the U.S. team's
proposal, including the proposal for a small team to come to
Moscow. However, the Russian Delegation would return to
Moscow for a week at the beginning of November. All the
Russian Delegation members would want to check their work
with superiors in their agencies, he explained, and this
could only be done by going to Moscow. Gottemoeller asked if
Antonov would be willing to leave experts behind to work
during the week of October 5, and he answered that he was not
willing to do so. They cannot work without me, he said, they
need a babysitter.


7. (S) Antonov commented that he is not against staying in
Geneva, and may be willing to do so later, but at the moment
he still needed to keep closely in touch with Moscow, to
ensure that the Russian Delegation is going in the right
direction. My assumption, he said, is that we have a lot in
common in the treaty, but many details of the accompanying
protocols will be different. Moreover, he did not yet know
how the U.S. side would handle the specific proposals that
the Russian side had made about missile defense and other
issues. As a personal idea, he said, maybe we should fix
something in this treaty about the U.S. decision on the third
missile defense site.


8. (S) Gottemoeller remarked that the United States had
already moved beyond the third site project thanks to
President Obama's decision, and it would be strange to record
an ephemeral moment in treaty language. Antonov then said
that maybe it would not be appropriate to mention the third
site decision in the treaty text, but it was an important
decision for the Russian side and they wanted to understand
more about it. For that reason, he said, the Russian side
wants to examine the U.S. proposal closely so that Moscow can
decide whether it has the basis to start cooperating on
missile defense. He asked again for a team to brief Russian
missile experts, and Gottemoeller reiterated that she would
pass the request to Washington.


9. (S) Gottemoeller ended the meeting by noting that the
U.S. side was ready to begin conforming the draft "Agreement
on Principles and Procedures for Completion of Continuous
Monitoring Activities at the Monitored Facility at Votkinsk,"
without prejudice to the U.S. position that continuous
monitoring should play a role in the new START agreement.
Antonov acknowledged the point, and agreed that Sergei


Koshelev could meet with Jerry Taylor on the margins of the
current START negotiating round, to carry out the conforming
exercise.


10. (U) Documents exchanged. None.


11. (U) Gottemoeller sends.
GRIFFITHS