KAZAKHSTAN: NDN AND OVERFLIGHT ISSUES STILL UNRESOLVED

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 ASTANA 000020

NOFORN
SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, S/SRAP, EUR/RUS, PM, ISN
NSC FOR JOYCE CONNERY

E.O. 12958: 01/11/2030
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR PHUM PARM MARR MNUC KNNP IR AF RS
UZ, KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: NDN AND OVERFLIGHT ISSUES STILL UNRESOLVED

Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland, 1.4 (A),(B),(D)

REF: A. 09 ASTANA 2272

B. 09 ASTANA 2273

C. ASTANA 0002


1. (S/NF) SUMMARY: During a January 11 meeting, Deputy Foreign
Minister Kairat Umarov told the Ambassador that the Kazakhstani
government still is discussing U.S. requests to amend the 2001
overflight and 2009 Northern Distribution Network (NDN) agreements
(ref A). He communicated his plan to present a draft overflight
agreement in the near future. Umarov also relayed concerns expressed
by some Kazakhstani agencies regarding the surface transportation of
wheeled armored vehicles for transporting troops (MATVs),concluding
that permission is unlikely, but negotiations continue. Umarov again
pressed for specific information about the alleged sale of yellowcake
to Iran (ref B). The Ambassador responded to Kazakhstani concerns
about the human-rights certification language (ref C). END SUMMARY.

INTERNAL DISCUSSION CONTINUE ON OVERFLIGHT


2. (S/NF) Arriving late to their January 11 meeting, Deputy Foreign
Minister Kairat Umarov told the Ambassador that he just concluded an
interagency discussion of the U.S. request to add a north-south
overflight path at which "some agencies expressed some specific
issues." Without elaborating on these questions, Umarov asserted
that the Foreign Ministry is drafting an agreement, which will then
be circulated within the Kazakhstani government for comment. After
collection of these responses, Umarov stated his plan to pass the
draft agreement to the U.S. government for discussion. He expressed
interest in receiving a high-level military delegation at that stage
in the process.

LAND TRANSIT OF MATVS UNLIKELY


3. (S/NF) Umarov relayed the concern of "other agencies" that the
surface transit of MATVs would increase Kazakhstan's susceptibility
to terrorist acts. Furthermore, even if the vehicles were placed in
containers, intelligence leaks could reveal the contents, he said,
thus negating the concealment effect of the crates or containers.
Umarov also raised more technical (and what seemed to us extraneous)
questions about the containers, including their potential size and
weight and whether they would require special rail flatcars or even
modifications to the rail tracks themselves. Finally, Umarov
underlined that no precedent existed to allow the land transportation
of MATVs -- or troops -- through Kazakhstan's territory. According
to Umarov, the Kazakhstani government refused to allow the transit of
Chinese equipment during a military exercise last year. "We would
need to work out a document to regulate the transit beforehand. We
cannot simply tell the United States 'yes' because we will have to
explain why to the Chinese." Terming a positive response "unlikely,"
he concluded, "Discussions continue, but already there were some
negative responses." The Ambassador underlined the importance of
these requests in light of troop increases in Afghanistan.

SPECIFIC INFORMATION NEEDED ON ALLEGED YELLOWCAKE NEGOTIATIONS


4. (S) Umarov relayed to the Ambassador that Kazakhstan's internal
probe into alleged negotiations between a KazAtomProm subsidiary and
Iran for the covert sale of yellowcake uranium to Iran is continuing
but that additional, specific information would assist the
government's investigation. Recalling Senator Casey's opening
remarks about Kazakhstan's uranium production during the December 15
testimony of Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian
Affairs George Krol, Umarov also requested a stronger statement from
the United States on U.S.-Kazakhstan export-control and
non-proliferation cooperation. "When you leave these issues
unattended, they spread around. We do not proliferate," he asserted.

ASTANA 00000020 002 OF 002


The Ambassador categorically denied a link between the yellowcake
press report and Senator Casey's statement, which Umarov seemed to
have implied.

HUMAN RIGHTS CERTIFICATION LANGUAGE CONTINUES TO ANNOY


5. (C) To address Umarov's December 31 concerns about U.S.
Congressional human rights certification language, the Ambassador
emphasized that the United States does not equate the human rights
situations in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He highlighted previous
discussions with Congressional staffers who had indicated their
efforts to remove the language, but that the conviction of
human-rights activist Yevgeniy Zhovtis had killed this effort. "It
is true that no country is named in the legislation," he said, "but
that does not mean that Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan are on the same
level. Every country is in a different place. I encourage you to
take more steps to address democracy and human rights issues, which
will eventually lead to the removal of the certification process."


6. (C) To respond, Umarov handed a copy of the human rights
certification language to Nurgali Arystanov, Counselor at the
Americas Desk of the Foreign Ministry. Arystanov focused his
complaints on the legislation's exclusion of expanded international
military education and training, which Uzbekistan receives,
concluding that Uzbekistan now can obtain "defense articles" outside
the scope of certification. The Ambassador explained that the United
States slowly and cautiously is working to normalize relations with
Uzbekistan, while the bilateral relationship with Kazakhstan has long
been and continues to be good. [NOTE: While walking the Ambassador
out of the Foreign Ministry, Arystanov continued to obsess on fine
details in the certification language. The Ambassador again
suggested that it is time to look at the bigger picture of the
bilateral relationship. END NOTE.]

RELATIONSHIP POSITIVE ON THE WHOLE


7. (C) Umarov responded that he wanted "to bring it to your
attention that we do not like the situation." Regarding the overall
relationship, Umarov relaxed a bit and asserted his generally
positive assessment. "It is sad that we have these issues. I only
want to point out the ones that could worsen the relationship. On
the whole, the relationship is working fine," he concluded.


8. (S) COMMENT: We suspect that the "other agencies" Umarov refers
to that are raising objections to the expansion of overflight and NDN
are Kazakhstan's intelligence agencies, specifically the Committee
for National Security (KNB). While the KNB might have legitimate
security concerns, we suspect they are possibly a pretext, and that
the old-guard faction in the government currently has the upper hand.
This might explain, too, the continuing hypersensitivity about the
Congressional certification language. State Secretary-Foreign
Minister Saudabayev's February 1-4 visit to Washington will be a key
opportunity to air these issues frankly and to try to remove some of
the current irritations. END COMMENT.

HOAGLAND