RUSSIAN REACTION TO NON-PAPER ON U.S.-RUSSIA SPACE SECURITY

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002809 SIPDIS SENSITIVE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPA NASA TSPL PREL RS UNPUOS SUBJECT: RUSSIAN REACTION TO NON-PAPER ON U.S.-RUSSIA SPACE SECURITY DIALOGUE REF: A) JOINT SPACE OPERATIONS CENTER/KLEPP E-KMAIL 11/10/09 B) STATE 00116396 Summary -------------- ¶1. (U) ESTH Counselor met with the representatives of the Security and Disarmament Division of the MFA on November 12 and delivered the non-paper and talking points conveyed reftel B. Our interlocutors were pleased by the interest of the USG in advancing the space security dialogue, requested more information on the US delegation, said that the GOR was working on a POC for future communications on space conjunctions and near approaches, and promised to pass the request to set up familiarization visits before the proposed January meeting to the relevant authorities. End Summary. GOR Treating Space Security Dialogue Very Seriously -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Vladimir Yermakov, Head of the Office of Military-Strategic Issues and formerly in the Russian Embassy in Washington, joined Alexander Klapovskiy, Expert on military space and ABM systems, and Andrey Grebenshchikov, third secretary, for the first few minutes of the meeting, noting that their office has been working on START, MD, and space security issues. After Yermakov left, Klapovskiy noted the Russian side wants to establish fruitful cooperation and believes the first planning meeting needs to set as its goal determining the nature of our cooperation. If we are to engage in regular exchanges, we should determine how often to meet, where, and how to set the agenda. Although our recent cooperation was caused by the February collision, the congested nature of space and the importance of these issues meant that we needed to continue. Recognizing that the U.S. decision not to accept the Russian proposal to meet November 14 stems from our desire to prepare well for the exchange, Klapovskiy noted serious U.S. proposals in the previous non-paper -- the possibility of joint monitoring and the possibility of joint research by experts of long-term conditions. Both of these proposals merit serious study. The Russian side therefore put into its paper TCBMs that expand on those proposed in 2007 by including not just the U.S. and Russia, but other space states. POC for Notifications -------------- ¶3. (SBU): The MOD has prepared a recommendation on a point of contact for notifications that is awaiting signature. The MFA will inform us as soon as it arrives -- hopefully the week of November 16th. After the POCs were established, perhaps the U.S. and Russia could establish a "Center for Predicting the Situation in Space" in which we could jointly work on expected collisions, conjunctions, close approaches, satellites that are no longer in control or in declining orbit. Klapovskiy twice thanked ESTHCouns for the information the U.S. side has been passing on space near approaches. He stressed that it is being used, even though the Russian side has not given us any questions. Jan 20-21 Experts Meeting in Paris -------------- ¶4. (SBU) EST Counselor shared the U.S. non-paper and agenda, noting that the U.S. proposal is to hold a substantive discussion at the first meeting, not merely to agree upon the character of our future work and how we would structure it. She noted that if the Russian side would like to discuss the nature and modalities of our cooperation, we could perhaps do so before the Jan 20-21 meeting. Klapovskiy said he understood that the U.S. had changed the nature of the meeting, which we had characterized before as a planning meeting. He seemed pleased that we want to do more. Familiarization Visits of Military Space Experts -------------- --- ¶5. (SBU): Klapovskiy promised to pass the suggestion to the relevant authorities and let us know. BEYRLE