RUSSIA'S MFA ON BAIKONUR TSA STEPS TOWARD ENTRY INTO FORCE

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000909 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: TSPL TPSA KZ RS SUBJECT: RUSSIA'S MFA ON BAIKONUR TSA STEPS TOWARD ENTRY INTO FORCE REF STATE 29419 ¶1. (SBU) On Friday, April 3, ESToff presented and discussed the reftel points on steps toward entry into force of the Baikonur Technical Safeguards Agreement (TSA) with MFA Department for Security and Disarmament Affairs Outer Space Affairs Senior Counselor Georgiy Yurivich Barsegov. Barsegov confirmed that the Russian government passed the diplomatic note regarding entry into force to the Kazakh government in 2004. ¶2. (SBU) Barsegov stated that Russia had received a "clean and final" copy of the Kazakh language version of the TSA in March 2007 along with a diplomatic note stating the Russian and English versions were in conformance with the Kazakh language version. He said that Russia is simply waiting for the final diplomatic note from the Kazakh government in order to generate the required round of diplomatic notes bringing the TSA into force. He noted that Russia sees no further changes to the document and commented that the delay by Kazakhstan in sending the required final note is "inexplicable" since all parties have compared the document in their respective languages and agree that it is in conformity. Barsegov concurred with the entry-into-force path as laid out in the reftel. ¶3. (SBU) Barsegov also stated that, in MFA's view, the "provisional" nature of the current arrangement is not of concern to the Russian government, as it sees any provisional status as "open ended" and not requiring an extension or further exchange of notes. BEYRLE