NON-PAPER FOR RUSSIA ON SATELLITE COLLISION

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 STATE 054933

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
GENENVA FOR CD DEL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CDG MCAP NASA PARM PREL RS TSPA UNPUOS
SUBJECT: NON-PAPER FOR RUSSIA ON SATELLITE COLLISION
BRIEFING AND SPACE TCBMS

REF: A. MOSCOW 556

B. STATE 28279

C. BERLIN 188

D. BRUSSELS 222

E. BRUSSELS 524

F. MOSCOW 435


1. (U) THIS IS AN ACTION REQUEST. See paragraph 6-7 below.


2. (SBU) BACKGROUND: On March 6, Embassy Moscow received a
non-paper from Russian MFA North America Desk Counselor
Aleksandr Shilin providing information on the February 10
collision of U.S. and Russian satellites (REF A). In
providing this non-paper, Russian MFA officials expressed an
interest in facilitating continued exchanges between the U.S.
and Russian governments on this matter.


3. (U) On March 24, the U.S. Delegation to the Legal
Subcommittee of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of
Outer Space (COPUOS) noted the ongoing USG review of the
collision and stated that the USG looks forward to discussing
the appropriate results at the full COPUOS in June (REF B).
The U.S. DEL also noted that the USG had been in contact with
Russia regarding the collision.


4. (SBU) U.S. Allies also share interest in U.S. analyses of
the satellite collision and its implications for space
security policy (REFS C and D). On May 6 and 8, experts from
ISN/MDSP, DoD's Office of Space Policy and Information
Operations, and the Joint Staff discussed the collision
during bilateral space security dialogues with France and the
United Kingdom. Discussions on the collision are also
planned in the coming weeks in bilateral space security
dialogues with Germany, Japan, and Canada.


5. (SBU) In addition to supporting expanded dialogues with
allies on space situational awareness (REF E),State also
sees this incident as an impetus to the resumption of a
dialogue with Russia on a range of space security topics,
including transparency and confidence-building measures
(TCBMs) relating to military and other space operations. For
the past two years, the U.S. has sought to cooperate with
Moscow on TCBMs in diplomatic and military channels, but they
were stymied by Russia's insistence on linking any discussion
of voluntary TCBMs to its joint proposal with China for a
binding "Prevention of Placement of Weapons in Outer Space
Treaty." END BACKGROUND.


6. (SBU) ACTION REQUEST: Department requests Embassy to pass
the U.S. non-paper in paragraph 8 below to appropriate host
government officials at the MFA and to provide a copy to the
Russian Space Agency. Post should also provide a copy of the
non-paper to the Russian Ministry of Defense.


7. (SBU) After providing the non-paper, Post is requested to
inform MFA officials that Brigadier General Susan Helms,
Director of Plans and Policy, J-5, United States Strategic
Command, will be providing the briefings on the collision.
General Helms flew on four space shuttle missions and served
aboard the International Space Station in 2001 as part of
Expedition 2, which was commanded by Cosmonaut Yuri Usachev.
Embassy also may draw upon the contingency talking points in
paragraph 9 on an "if raised" basis. END ACTION REQUEST.


8. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT OF NON-PAPER:

Non-Paper
May 28, 2009

The United States is pleased to respond to the Russian
Federation's non-paper of March 5, 2009, regarding the

STATE 00054933 002 OF 003


collision of the Iridium 33 and Cosmos 2251 satellites on
February 10, 2009.

As the Russian non-paper noted, this incident illustrates the
increasingly congested and complex nature of the space
environment. It also serves as a reminder of the need for
our two governments to expand cooperation with other
spacefaring nations on measures to ensure the long-term
sustainability of operations in the space environment.

The United States welcomes the technical information provided
by Russia in its non-paper. This data is a useful
contribution to the presentation that the United States plans
to make on the collision at the 52nd Session of the Committee
on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) on June 9 in
Vienna, Austria.

As senior officials from our respective Governments have
noted, this incident can serve as an impetus to increase
international cooperation and to improve bilateral
transparency and confidence-building measures (TCBMs)
relating to our respective space activities.

The United States also welcomes Russia's interest in resuming
discussions between experts on TCBMs relating to military and
other space operations. Such a pragmatic dialogue can
provide opportunities for considering the feasibility and
desirability of TCBMs for space activities.

To help improve our mutual understanding of the collision and
its implications for the long-term sustainability of the
space environment, U.S. Government experts would welcome the
opportunity to preview their planned presentations to the
COPUOS to Russian experts on June 8 in Vienna.

In addition to exchanging perspectives on the collision and
its direct implications, this meeting between governmental
experts could also be expanded to identify and discuss
potential opportunities for greater international
cooperation, including the possibility of:

-- A joint study by U.S. and Russian experts on the long-term
implications of orbital collisions for human spaceflight
safety and other space activities.

-- Collaboration regarding bilateral TCBMs such as noted in
Russia's submission of May 11, 2007, to the report of the
United Nations Secretary General on "Transparency and
confidence-building measures in outer space activities" (UN
General Assembly document A/62/114, dated August 3, 2007).

Looking beyond such bilateral cooperation, a continuing
dialogue between U.S. and Russian experts could also consider
how our two governments can work with the European Union and
other members of the Euro-Atlantic community to develop
consensus on pragmatic and voluntary TCBMs which are
acceptable to the greatest number of governments.

END TEXT OF NON-PAPER.


9. (SBU) BEGIN CONTINGENCY TALKING POINTS:

Space Arms Control

-------------- The Administration is commencing a review of all aspects
of national space policy, including arms control policy. Our
bilateral discussions on pragmatic and voluntary TCBMs should
proceed without linkage to broader questions on the
feasibility and desirability of bilateral and multilateral
arms control measures for space.

U.S. Co-Sponsorship of UN General Assembly Resolution on
TCBMs:

--As it did in 2007 and 2008, the United States remains
willing to consider co-sponsorship with Russia of a UN

STATE 00054933 003 OF 003


General Assembly resolution which would commission a Group of
Government Experts study on pragmatic and voluntary TCBMs.

--To ensure maximum flexibility, any such draft resolution
should not be linked to the start of negotiations on
proposals such as the Prevention of Placement of Weapons in
Outer Space Treaty (PPWT) in the Conference on Disarmament or
other fora. U.S. experts would welcome the opportunity for
further discussions on this topic on the margins of the UN
Institute for Disarmament Research conference on June 15 and
16 in Geneva, Switzerland.

END CONTINGENCY TALKING POINTS.


10. (U) Please slug responses for ISN/MDSP-RBuenneke,
OES/SAT-DTurner, and EUR/PRA-MNash.
CLINTON