VZCZCXRO0518
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD
DE RUEHRL #0795 1681603
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 161603Z JUN 08
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1466
INFO RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 1938
UNCLAS BERLIN 000795
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS, STATE FOR EUR/AGS, EUR/ACE, EUR/PRA, NEA/IR
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON PGOV PREL TSPA RS IR GM
SUBJECT: CODEL ROHRABACHER AND ROSCOSMOS DIRECTOR PERMINOV
DISCUSS US/RUSSIA SPACE COOPERATION
1. (SBU) On May 28, 2008 CODEL Rohrabacher met with
Roscosmos Director Anatoliy Perminov at the U.S. Embassy in
Berlin to discuss a variety of U.S./Russia space cooperation
issues focusing on how to strengthen bi-lateral civil space
cooperation policy and exploring new areas of future research
cooperation. Perminov came to the meeting with a clear goal
of corralling support from Rohrabacher on policy issues
regarding the impact the Iran Nonproliferation Act (INA) will
have on post-2011 U.S. International Space Station (ISS)
support missions and the lack of a U.S. support for the draft
Framework Technology Safegaurds Agreement (FTSA).
Rohrabacher's agenda encompassed exploring possible technical
cooperation dealing with the threat of near earth objects
(NEO) and nuclear propulsion for long duration manned space
flight.
PERMINOV SOLICITES SUPPORT FROM THE US CONGRESS
--------------------------------------------- --
2. (SBU) Perminov lobbied Rohrabacher for the U.S. Congress
to cancel the INA for fear that the amended version of the
INA will leave the U.S. with no means to support the
completion of the ISS beyond 2011. (COMMENT: The original
INA, enacted in 2000, banned U.S. payments to Russia in
connection with the ISS in an effort to encourage Russia to
halt technology transfers to Iran in support of Iran's
nuclear weapons program. With the looming retirement of the
Space Shuttle Fleet in 2010 and in an effort to continue
support for ISS, Congress amended the INA in 2005 to create
and exception that allows payments to Russia until 2012. END
COMMENT.) Perminov emphasized that Roscosmos "does not
cooperate with Iran at all", and therefore the INA should not
be applicable to Roscosmos or it should at least be modified
to not be obstructive to future ISS cooperation. Rohrabacher
was receptive to Perminov's argument but held a firm stance
on the Iran issue, emphasizing that in order to garner enough
Congressional support on this issue, Russia first needs to
convince the U.S. that it has implemented sufficient
procedures to prevent technology exports to Iran's nuclear
weapons program.
3. (SBU) In a second request, Perminov encouraged
Rohrabacher to support the signing of the draft Framework
Technology Safegaurds Agreement between Russia and the U.S.
and expressed frustration over the lack of response thus far
from the State Department on this initiative. Perminov
explained the Russian government has passed drafts of this
proposal to the to the State Department on several occasions
without a satisfactory response, adding, each time it gets
returned for further clarification or requesting more
details. Perminov said this agreement is important to Russia
to protect their intellectual property rights and cited a
specific example where Russian authorities prohibited the
delivery of five RS-180 liquid fuel rocket engines to the
U.S. in September 2007 due to the lack of a signed FTSA.
Perminov added this situation resulted in a financial loss on
the order of tens of millions of dollars to the Russian
government.
DISCUSSION ON A JOINT US/RUSSIAN NEO DATABASE
---------------------------------------------
4. (SBU) Rohrabacher and Perminov discussed the possibility
U.S./Russian cooperation instituting a joint database
cataloging NEO and their projected trajectories to assess the
threat of earth impact. Congressman Rohrabacher conveyed to
Perminov a strong personal policy interest in accurately
tracking NEO as well as exploration of possible means to
mitigate a potential collision and cited a 10% probability
every hundred years of a major earth collision. Adding
perspective, Rohrabacher referenced the upcoming 100 year
anniversary of the Tunguska event in Russia, June 30 1908, as
the last major NEO to enter the Earth's atmosphere.
(COMMENT: The Tunguska event is characterized as an airburst
explosion of an asteroid 5-10 km above the earth's surface
with a blast energy estimated at 10-15 megatons. END
COMMENT.) Perminov suggested the utility of instituting an
internationally administered joint NEO database to best
analyze the NEO threat and emphasized this would be a very
"realistic project" and "you will find Russian support in
this endeavor."
TIMKEN JR