Cablegate: Russian Reaction to Non-Paper On U.S.-Russia Space Security

VZCZCXRO1548
OO RUEHAST RUEHDH RUEHHM RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHPB RUEHPOD RUEHSL RUEHTM
RUEHTRO
DE RUEHMO #2809 3221501
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181501Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5413
INFO RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA PRIORITY 5438
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0537
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC//JCS
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC

UNCLAS MOSCOW 002809

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: TSPA NASA TSPL PREL RS UNPUOS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN REACTION TO NON-PAPER ON U.S.-RUSSIA SPACE SECURITY
DIALOGUE

REF: A) JOINT SPACE OPERATIONS CENTER/KLEPP E-KMAIL 11/10/09 B)
STATE 00116396

Summary
-------

1. (U) ESTH Counselor met with the representatives of the Security
and Disarmament Division of the MFA on November 12 and delivered the
non-paper and talking points conveyed reftel B. Our interlocutors
were pleased by the interest of the USG in advancing the space
security dialogue, requested more information on the US delegation,
said that the GOR was working on a POC for future communications on
space conjunctions and near approaches, and promised to pass the
request to set up familiarization visits before the proposed January
meeting to the relevant authorities. End Summary.

GOR Treating Space Security Dialogue Very Seriously
--------------------------------------------- ------

2. (SBU) Vladimir Yermakov, Head of the Office of
Military-Strategic Issues and formerly in the Russian Embassy in
Washington, joined Alexander Klapovskiy, Expert on military space
and ABM systems, and Andrey Grebenshchikov, third secretary, for the
first few minutes of the meeting, noting that their office has been
working on START, MD, and space security issues. After Yermakov
left, Klapovskiy noted the Russian side wants to establish fruitful
cooperation and believes the first planning meeting needs to set as
its goal determining the nature of our cooperation. If we are to
engage in regular exchanges, we should determine how often to meet,
where, and how to set the agenda. Although our recent cooperation
was caused by the February collision, the congested nature of space
and the importance of these issues meant that we needed to continue.
Recognizing that the U.S. decision not to accept the Russian
proposal to meet November 14 stems from our desire to prepare well
for the exchange, Klapovskiy noted serious U.S. proposals in the
previous non-paper -- the possibility of joint monitoring and the
possibility of joint research by experts of long-term conditions.
Both of these proposals merit serious study. The Russian side
therefore put into its paper TCBMs that expand on those proposed in
2007 by including not just the U.S. and Russia, but other space
states.

POC for Notifications
---------------------

3. (SBU): The MOD has prepared a recommendation on a point of
contact for notifications that is awaiting signature. The MFA will
inform us as soon as it arrives -- hopefully the week of November
16th. After the POCs were established, perhaps the U.S. and Russia
could establish a "Center for Predicting the Situation in Space" in
which we could jointly work on expected collisions, conjunctions,
close approaches, satellites that are no longer in control or in
declining orbit. Klapovskiy twice thanked ESTHCouns for the
information the U.S. side has been passing on space near approaches.
He stressed that it is being used, even though the Russian side has
not given us any questions.

Jan 20-21 Experts Meeting in Paris
----------------------------------

4. (SBU) EST Counselor shared the U.S. non-paper and agenda, noting
that the U.S. proposal is to hold a substantive discussion at the
first meeting, not merely to agree upon the character of our future
work and how we would structure it. She noted that if the Russian
side would like to discuss the nature and modalities of our
cooperation, we could perhaps do so before the Jan 20-21 meeting.
Klapovskiy said he understood that the U.S. had changed the nature
of the meeting, which we had characterized before as a planning
meeting. He seemed pleased that we want to do more.

Familiarization Visits of Military Space Experts
--------------------------------------------- ---

5. (SBU): Klapovskiy promised to pass the suggestion to the relevant
authorities and let us know.

BEYRLE

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