START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, MOSCOW (SFO-MOSCOW):

S E C R E T MOSCOW 000163 SIPDIS DEPT FOR T, VCI, AND EUR/PRA DOE FOR NNSA/NA-24 CIA FOR WINPAC JCS FOR J5/DDGSA SECDEF FOR OSD(P)/STRATCAP NAVY FOR CNO-N5JA AND DIRSSP AIRFORCE FOR HQ USAF/ASX AND ASXP DTRA FOR OP-OS OP-OSA AND DIRECTOR NSC FOR LOOK DIA FOR LEA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2035 TAGS: KACT MARR PARM PREL RS US START SUBJECT: START FOLLOW-ON NEGOTIATIONS, MOSCOW (SFO-MOSCOW): (U) NEGOTIATOR MEETING WITH HER COUNTERPART, JANUARY 21, 2010 Classified By: Assistant Secretary Rose E. Gottemoeller. Reasons 1.4 ( b),(d),and (h). ¶1. (U) This is SFO-MOS-006. ¶2. (U) Meeting Date: January 21, 2010 Times: 4:30 - 5:30 P.M. Place: MFA, Moscow -------------- Summary -------------- ¶3. (S) MFA DVBR Director Antonov told A/S Gottemoeller that he was not aware of which topics the GOR would raise during January 22 meetings with NSA Jones and CJCS Mullen, claiming the MFA had no role in organizing these meetings. Antonov posited that the GOR would not change its position on exchanging telemetry data. He added that he and his Deputy Director watched TV news reports of Medvedev's meetings with Russian political party leaders, in which the political party leaders supported simultaneous ratification of the START Follow-On Treaty by the U.S. and Russian legislatures. Antonov said that his team would be ready to continue talks in Geneva on February 1. Various treaty articles were discussed, and Antonov said that he would receive instructions from Medvedev after the January 22 meetings. -------------- Antonov Out of the Loop? -------------- ¶4. (S) When asked by A/S Gottemoeller about which topics the Russian side would like to discuss with NSA Jones and CJCS Mullen during their January 22 meeting, MFA DVBR Director Anatoliy Anotonov said that he did not know. He claimed that the MFA played no role in organizing the CJCS Mullen-CHOD Makarov meeting. He claimed the MFA had not been consulted in putting together the agenda and he was glad about this, as this meant "the MOD is doing the staff work." He added that he had not seen the final GOR talking points. He did say, however, that the GOR would like to discuss the relationship between strategic offensive arms and missile defense (MD). -------------- Telemetry -------------- ¶5. (S) Antonov asserted that the GOR position on telemetry was still as Medvedev outlined in his December 12 statement. "There can be no new proposals, only ways to close out the issue," he said. He added that the MFA had encouraged the MOD to be flexible on the issue, however. -------------- Medvedev Spoke to Political Leaders -------------- ¶6. (S) Antonov said he and MFA DVBR Deputy Director Sergey Koshelev watched TV news reports of Medvedev's recent meeting with Russian political party leaders who gave their views on START Follow-On Treaty (SFO) ratification. The party leaders agreed that the U.S. and Russia should ratify the treaty simultaneously. Antonov said that he had been following the Russian press closely regarding the SFO issue, and said that it was very important to Russian national security. He said that he had to be very cautious on the remaining issues left to finish the treaty, since now both the parliamentarians and nongovernmental Russian experts were closely following the negotiations. He claimed that the new Treaty would be critically scrutinized in the Duma when it came up for ratification. -------------- Negotiations to Continue in Geneva -------------- ¶7. (S) Antonov said that his delegation would leave Moscow on January 31 and arrive in Geneva, ready to continue SFO talks on February 1. This session would last no more than four weeks. He said that, even if the two sides did not reach agreement after four weeks, then the GOR would need to return to Moscow to discuss the remaining issues among the various GOR agencies. He agreed with A/S Gottemoeller's suggestion that conforming the treaty should continue while the negotiations were in progress. Antonov also complained about translation and bureaucratic issues, saying that the paper on Unique Identifiers (UID) and the protocol section on telemetry, which the U.S. side had conveyed to the MFA on January 18, would not reach GOR agencies until January 20, and perhaps not reach the right desks in those agencies before January 22. (Comment: The relevant agencies seem to have had a chance to digest the U.S. papers when the Jones-Mullen-Makarov meeting occurred on January 22. End comment.) -------------- Various Articles Discussed -------------- ¶8. (S) A/S Gottemoeller said the U.S. would be willing to discuss the brackets in Articles VI and XIII of the SFO, depending on progress in the upcoming meeting of NSA Jones and CJCS Mullen with General Makarov. She said the U.S. recognized that Article VI cannot have special requirements for Russian mobile ICBMs only, as the U.S. side had accepted the concept of equivalence in the new treaty. Regarding Article XIV.(c),Antonov recognized the need for notification of new kinds of strategic offensive arms, but argued this should be in the notification section of the treaty protocol, not the treaty text. A/S Gottemoeller told Antonov that the GOR's suggested language for Article V.4 would not be accepted until agreement was reached on the telemetry issue. She added that she was not sure why a joint statement on MD was needed if Article V already mentioned this topic. A/S Gottemoeller also pressed Antonov for reactions to Article VIII, but Antonov demurred, saying this could be solved in Geneva. She added the U.S. side was working hard on the Trident I statement. -------------- Antonov Awaits Instructions -------------- ¶9. (S) Antonov said he would see what directions he got from Medvedev after the January 22 meetings of NSA Jones and CJCS Mullen. He said that he currently had no instructions. Instructions, he posited, would come after Prikhodko and Makarov briefed Medvedev. ¶10. (U) A/S Gottemoeller cleared this message. Beyrle