DELIVERY OF U.S.-PROPOSED NEW START TREATY MEETING

S E C R E T MOSCOW 002400 SIPDIS GENEVA FOR JCIC, DEPT FOR VCI/SI E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/17/2029 TAGS: KACT PARM START RS US SUBJECT: DELIVERY OF U.S.-PROPOSED NEW START TREATY MEETING SCHEDULE; DELIVERY OF EUROPEAN MD POINTS REF: A. STATE 096638 ¶B. STATE 96950 Classified By: POL M/C Susan M. Elliott for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (S) We delivered on September 18 the U.S.-proposed new START Treaty meeting schedule (reftel A) to MFA North America director Igor Neverov and, separately, to DVBR Second Secretary Dmitriy Kostyuchenko; neither made any substantive comment of the meting schedule ¶2. (S) We also delivered to Neverov and Kostyuchenko both the unclassified (reftel B para 4) and confidential (reftel B para 6) European missile defense decision talking points. Neverov said MFA had already received some information on the POTUS missile defense decision from the Russian embassy in Washington. Kostyuchenko had no comment on the missile defense points. Beyrle