GOA INPUT ON AUSTRALIA GROUP AGENDA, RUSSIAN

S E C R E T VIENNA 000825

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DNG: CO 07/07/2019
TAGS: PARM PREL ETTC CBW AU
SUBJECT: GOA INPUT ON AUSTRALIA GROUP AGENDA, RUSSIAN
PARTICIPATION BID

REF: STATE 067207

Classified By: Economic-Political Counselor Dean Yap. Reasons: 1.4 (b)
& (d).


1. (U) Economic Unit Chief delivered reftel demarche and
Austria-only points to Dr. Helmut Krehlik, Head of the
Austrian Economic Ministry's Export Control Division, who
will lead Austria's delegation to the Australia Group (AG)
2009 plenary session in Paris. Krehlik welcomed USG
coordination on the agenda.


2. (S) Dr. Krehlik will "consider seriously" doing a
presentation on Iran at the plenary session. Austria has
recent experience, including the conviction last year of
Salzburg-based "Interchemie" for selling chemical precursors
to an Iranian entity (the convicted unfortunately resulted
only in a light sentence, Krehlik noted).


3. (S) In terms of a presentation on Russia, Krehlik
suggested asking Germany's BAFA to take the lead. Since BAFA
led a 3-year EU-funded project to study and assist Russia's
export control bureaucracy, Germans are now among the West's
most knowledgeable experts on Russian export control.

Uneasy At Prospect of Russian Participation
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4. (S) Speaking "privately and unofficially" on the topic of
Russian participation, Krehlik expressed misgivings.
Personally, Krehlik feels that the Australia Group has been
an effective and collegial forum in part because Russia does
NOT participate. Recent Russian grandstanding at a Wassenaar
meeting highlighted how narrow GOR interests (e.g. the
Russian effort to get license fees from Soviet-era munitions
factories in Eastern Europe) sometimes trump their shared
interest in non-proliferation. The Russians can effectively
implement export controls "when they want to implement them"
-- but bringing it into the Australia Group would not
necessarily advance export control in Russia, and might be a
hindrance elsewhere.


5. (S/NF) COMMENT: please PROTECT Krehlik on this point,
since Austria's long-standing foreign policy is neutrality on
the East-West divide and support for greater Russian
integration with the West. END COMMENT.

Praise for EXBS Istanbul Conference
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6. (U) Krehlik had effusive praise for the USG/Turkish EXBS
Export Control Conference in Istanbul last month, calling it
"one of the best organized events" he's ever attended.
HOH