Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09MOSCOW369
2009-02-13 14:55:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:
RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PROPOSES FSB AS BETTER
how-toVZCZCXYZ0000 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHMO #0369 0441455 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 131455Z FEB 09 FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1959 INFO RHMFIUU/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS MOSCOW 000369
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/WMDT A. GRANT, T. KATSAPKIS
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FOR M. WITTROCK
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL GKGIC PTER KSCA KNNP RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PROPOSES FSB AS BETTER
INTERLOCUTOR ON DRAFT MOU AND IA ON NUCLEAR AND RADIOACTIVE
DETECTION COOPERATION
REF: A) State 125153 B) Moscow 03648
UNCLAS MOSCOW 000369
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/WMDT A. GRANT, T. KATSAPKIS
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FOR M. WITTROCK
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL GKGIC PTER KSCA KNNP RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PROPOSES FSB AS BETTER
INTERLOCUTOR ON DRAFT MOU AND IA ON NUCLEAR AND RADIOACTIVE
DETECTION COOPERATION
REF: A) State 125153 B) Moscow 03648
1. (SBU) During a February 11 meeting with Vice President of the
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Nikolay Laverov, EST counselor and
staff inquired about the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
and Implementing Agreement (IA) between the Department of Homeland
Security and the RAS on cooperative research and development in the
areas of radioactive and nuclear detection (ref B). Laverov
informed Emboffs that the RAS supports the MOU and IA in principle.
However, RAS is not the best counterpart to Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) on this MOU because RAS is not a ministry. He
therefore forwarded the MOU and IA to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs with a request for its decision as to which agency or
ministry would be a more appropriate Russian signatory to these
agreements. He offered his judgment that a more appropriate
organizational counterpart to DHS might be the Federal Security
Service (FSB) due to its "similar structures," just as the FSB has
taken the lead in bilateral anti-terrorism cooperation. Laverov
also suggested that other governmental agencies, like RAS or
Rosatom, might also participate in the process in some support
capacity.
2. (SBU) Laverov, as a member of the Science Council of the RF
Security Council, offered to take the matter up personally with RF
Security Council Deputy Secretary FSB Colonel-General Valentin
Alekseyevich Sobolev. Laverov explained that Sobolev was previously
involved in U.S.-Russian anti-terrorism cooperation activities.
Sobolev is a career KGB (now FSB) officer who was appointed First
Deputy Director of the Federal Counter-intelligence Service in 1994
and First Deputy Director of FSB in 1997. In 2007, Sobolev was
appointed Acting Secretary of the RF's Security Council after Sergey
Ivanov left the post.
BEYRLE
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/WMDT A. GRANT, T. KATSAPKIS
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY FOR M. WITTROCK
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL GKGIC PTER KSCA KNNP RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES PROPOSES FSB AS BETTER
INTERLOCUTOR ON DRAFT MOU AND IA ON NUCLEAR AND RADIOACTIVE
DETECTION COOPERATION
REF: A) State 125153 B) Moscow 03648
1. (SBU) During a February 11 meeting with Vice President of the
Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) Nikolay Laverov, EST counselor and
staff inquired about the proposed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
and Implementing Agreement (IA) between the Department of Homeland
Security and the RAS on cooperative research and development in the
areas of radioactive and nuclear detection (ref B). Laverov
informed Emboffs that the RAS supports the MOU and IA in principle.
However, RAS is not the best counterpart to Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) on this MOU because RAS is not a ministry. He
therefore forwarded the MOU and IA to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs with a request for its decision as to which agency or
ministry would be a more appropriate Russian signatory to these
agreements. He offered his judgment that a more appropriate
organizational counterpart to DHS might be the Federal Security
Service (FSB) due to its "similar structures," just as the FSB has
taken the lead in bilateral anti-terrorism cooperation. Laverov
also suggested that other governmental agencies, like RAS or
Rosatom, might also participate in the process in some support
capacity.
2. (SBU) Laverov, as a member of the Science Council of the RF
Security Council, offered to take the matter up personally with RF
Security Council Deputy Secretary FSB Colonel-General Valentin
Alekseyevich Sobolev. Laverov explained that Sobolev was previously
involved in U.S.-Russian anti-terrorism cooperation activities.
Sobolev is a career KGB (now FSB) officer who was appointed First
Deputy Director of the Federal Counter-intelligence Service in 1994
and First Deputy Director of FSB in 1997. In 2007, Sobolev was
appointed Acting Secretary of the RF's Security Council after Sergey
Ivanov left the post.
BEYRLE