RUSSIA'S MFA ON THE U.S. AND RUSSIAN COMM

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 000435

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/20/2019
TAGS: PARM PREL TSPA RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIA'S MFA ON THE U.S. AND RUSSIAN COMM
SATELLITE COLLISION

REF: A. STATE 12945

B. MOSCOW 356

Classified By: DCM Eric Rubin: Reasons 1.4 (b, d)


1. (S) Summary: On Friday, February 13, EST delivered ref
A talking points on the satellite collision to the MFA,
following up U/S Burns's and Ambassador's discussion of the
issue with DFM Ryabkov (ref B). Expert on Military Space and
ABM Systems Klapovskiy indicated that Russia is satisfied
with actions to date on the incident, but said that much is
yet to be done to assess the consequences. He stated that
transparency and confidence building activities, especially
those included in Russia's draft resolution to the UN General
Assembly, were important to cooperative efforts, as long as
they covered both military and civilian space activities. He
said that safety and security in space was a serious question
that should be dealt with via Russia's three priorities:
prevent weapons from being deployed, transparency in all
space activities, both military and civilian, and a working
Code of Conduct. End Summary


2. (S) On Friday, February 13, EST officer delivered the
reftel talking points to MFA Department for Security Affairs
and Disarmament Expert on Military Space and ABM Systems
Alexander A. Klapovskiy and Second Secretary Andrey
Grebenshchikov. (Note: This was a follow on to U/S Burns's
and Ambassador Beyrle's February 12 conversation with DFM
Ryabkov in which he outlined the same points.) Klapovskiy
stated that the Russian government was "satisfied" with the
information it had received on the collision, but that there
was still much to be studied regarding what had happened and
the consequences of the impact.

Russian-sponsored UN Resolution on Transparency and
Confidence Building
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) Klapovskiy said that he agreed wholeheartedly with
the view that this incident provided an opportunity to
increase and improve bilateral transparency and confidence
building measures. He elaborated that Russia had on four
occasions put forward a resolution to the UN General Assembly
(UNGA) regarding transparency on space activities. He said
this resolution covered not only civilian, but also military
space programs. Klapovskiy allowed that Russia had attempted
to draft the resolution with the cooperation of the U.S., but
"unfortunately, that did not succeed." He commented that
this effort was supported by "most" of the UN members and
that the USG knew "who was against and who was for" it. He
concluded that this incident might help to breathe new life
into the resolution, perhaps giving a push for a "new look"
at it.


4. (SBU) He identified transparency as a "multi-faceted"
problem, as the issues involved not only what was in space,
but the launches, orbits and return to Earth of satellites
and other spacecraft components. He mentioned the return to
Earth of the old MIR spacecraft as a prime example of how
things could go right. He said this cooperative effort
should be studied as a model for future cooperation on space
safety and security. Klapovskiy stated that cooperation
based on transparency and confidence building measures can
only work if it covers both military and civilian activities.


5. (SBU) Klapovskiy highlighted information sharing as a
way to increase transparency, noting it was Russia's second
priority to provide for safety and security in space.
Russia's draft UNGA resolution on transparency on space
activities included a paragraph inviting states to provide
information on all space-related activities. Many countries
have already begun to do so, including China, the United
Kingdom, and the EU. He proposed that preliminary
information on all launches be published on a website.


6. (SBU) Klapovskiy said that the U.S. had "welcomed" the
EU-proposed Code of Conduct with provisions for covering
launches, maneuvers, and return to Earth of space equipment.
Given the seriousness of safety and security in space,
Klapovskiy hoped the new U.S. Administration will pay more
attention to space and the Code of Conduct, commenting that
perhaps this incident would focus the US and RF on the key,
important space activity issues. Klapovskiy declared that
the danger to manned space objects, such as the International
Space Station (ISS) could not be downplayed. The ISS, he
said, had been maneuvered out of the path of space debris
eight times in the "last few years."


MOSCOW 00000435 002 OF 002



7. (SBU) Klapovskiy listed Russia's three priorities in
space as preventing weapons from being deployed, transparency
in all space activities, both military and civilian, and
establishing a working Code of Conduct to manage and prevent
incidents such as the collision of February 10. He concluded
that these three priorities should be the focus of our two
countries in the coming months.
BEYRLE