VZCZCXYZ0009
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHVEN #0123/01 1271056
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061056Z MAY 08
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5705
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0145
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE//POLAD/XPXC//
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//ECJ5-T/ECCS/ECPLAD//
RUEAHQA/HQ USAF WASHINGTON DC//XONP//
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAO
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5-DDPMA-E/DDPMA-IN/CAC//

UNCLAS USOSCE 000123 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/PRA, EUR/RPM, SCA/CEN 
JCS FOR COL NORWOOD 
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) 
NSC FOR DOWLEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL OSCE
SUBJECT: OPEN SKIES TREATY:  MAY 5 OSCC PLENARY:  RUSSIAN 
ACCUSATION OF "DOUBLE STANDARD" 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Summary:  At the May 5th Plenary of the Open Skies 
Consultative Commission (OSCC),  Russia recalled a series of 
interventions by the U.S. and other delegations on April 14 
that opposed Russia's request for a suspension of Open Skies 
missions in the last week of April due to the lack of 
accommodations.  Russia accused these delegations of treating 
the Russian Federation unfairly and using a "double standard" 
in comparison to Latvia.  Meanwhile, the draft decision on 
Revision One to Decision No. 7/07 that updates active quota 
distribution has been placed under silence procedure.  The 
U.S. drew the States Parties' attention to the ongoing 
preparation effort to commemorate the completion of the 500th 
Open Skies observation flight.  The Chairman of the Informal 
Working Group on Sensors (IWGS) issued a statement reporting 
the failure of the working group to agree to Revision One to 
Decision No. 14.  Please see paragraphs 8 and 9 for guidance 
requests.  End Summary. 
 
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Plenary - You Guys Are Mean! 
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¶2.  (SBU)  The U.S. (Neighbour) chaired the second meeting of 
the 46th Session of the OSCC.  In response to interventions 
by the U.S. and others at the April 14 Plenary against 
Russian notification requesting no Open Skies mission 
activity during the last week of April (USOSCE 104, 
OSCC.DEL/4/08), the Russian representative (Kozlov) 
complained that the interventions were "over the top," 
unfair, and harsh.  Kozlov stated that Russia knew their 
holiday request would impact the Turkish observation flight 
and as a result had made bilateral arrangement with Turkey on 
April 11 for an alternate overflight schedule.  Additionally, 
to make up for the week of no activity, Russia agreed to host 
two observation flights simultaneously.  Russia thought the 
intervention was excessive and inconsistent with the 
cooperative spirit of the Treaty. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Recalling a Latvian request in June of 2006 for no 
Open Skies activity from November 15 to December 15 due to 
the NATO Ministerial, Kozlov wondered why no States Parties 
objected to Latvia's request at the time and accused the U.S. 
and others of "double-standard."  Though annoyed at Russia's 
unexpected accusations, Turkey (Guc) confirmed to the Plenary 
that Russia and Turkey had successfully entered into a 
bilateral arrangement that will compensate Turkey for the 
loss of opportunity during the last week of April. 
 
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500th Observation Flight - Let's Focus On The Positives 
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¶4.  (SBU)  Ignoring Russian provocation, the U.S. 
(Silberberg) drew the Plenary's attention to ongoing effort 
to commemorate the completion of the 500th observation flight 
due to take place on July 14th.  Silberberg informed 
delegations that according to the U.S. flight tracker 
(OSCC.DEL/7/08), as of April 30, States Parties have 
completed 460 missions.  He called on all to review the 
flight tracker and submit inputs as necessary to keep it 
accurate.  Additionally, Silberberg thanked delegations for 
their support and participation in a brainstorming meeting 
held on April 15 to plan for the commemoration.  He also 
thanked the OSCE Press and Public Information Section for 
their offer of assistance to the OSCC to organize this 
important event.  Silberberg asked delegations to review the 
summary report detailing the discussion (OSCC.DEL/6/08) and 
to join the U.S. at the next informal meeting to be held in 
mid-May. 
 
¶5.  (SBU)  To formalize the U.S. )- Georgian and the U.S. 
)- Poland shared observation flight agreements, the U.S. had 
submitted to the Plenary for adoption revision one to the 
2008 active quotas distribution decision (OSCC.DD/2/08). 
Because Kiev had not sent instructions, the Ukrainian 
Delegation could not join consensus.  As a result, the 
Chairman placed the draft decision for adoption under silence 
 
procedure due to expire on May 13. 
 
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Sensors - Not Going Anywhere Fast 
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¶6.  (SBU)  The U.S. (Silberberg) delivered the Informal 
Working Group on Sensors (IWGS) Chairman's Report to the 
Plenary (OSCC.SEN/6/08).  IWGS Chairman (Simmons) reported 
that the most recent draft of Revision One to Decision 14 
could not be moved forward because not all States Parties 
have agreed to it.  Simmons is currently coordinating with 
other IWGS delegations to determine dates for the next 
meeting. 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  Russia and Turkey reported their flight activities 
as well as flights conducted in their countries.  All 
observation flights were conducted in accordance with 
provisions of the Treaty and in the spirit of cooperation. 
Additionally, Germany (Ratzlaff) announced that it will 
coordinate the 2009 active quotas distribution meetings which 
will be held on October 9-10 of this year.  The next Plenary 
will be on June 2 under the U.S. Chairmanship. 
 
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IWGRP - If It's Not Broken...Don't Fix It 
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¶8.  (SBU)  Immediately following the Plenary, the Russian 
Federation chaired the Informal Working Group on Rules and 
Procedures.  The main topic up for discussion were Russia's 
food for thought paper and draft decisions on alternate 
airfields (OSCC.RP/1/08, OSCC.RP/2/08, OSCC.RP/3/08, 
OSCC.RP/5/08).  Slovakia (Jancovic) made the only 
intervention of the meeting stating that designating 
alternate airfields would be hard in advance of an 
observation mission.  Additionally, he feared that 
designating alternate airfield would limit the freedom of the 
aircraft commander, perhaps leading to an unsafe situation 
(OSCC.RP/7/08).  In short, Slovakia would prefer to use the 
current Open Skies Treaty and the existing relevant 
documents.  The Russian Chairman (Kozlov) hoped for more 
comments and discussion at the next working group meeting to 
be held on May 19.  USDEL requests guidance from Washington 
on the Russian proposals as soon as possible. 
 
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AOB - The Exchange of Letters and the UK...Still Going... 
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¶9.  (SBU)  Prior to the Plenary, Russian representative 
(Kozlov) delivered to USDEL Russia's version of the "Exchange 
of Letters."  USDEL have sent the document (Russian text and 
unofficial English translation) to VCI/CCA for interagency 
review.  Request further guidance for USDEL to deliver to the 
Russian Delegation in order to complete this bilateral 
agreement. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  Following the Plenary, UK representative 
(MacLeod) informed USDEL (Neighbour/Duong) that the UK has 
not made a final decision whether to continue Open Skies 
active observation flights.  The UK Joint Arms Control 
Implementation Group (JACIG) is reviewing its options for 
limited active observation flight activities.  MacLeod also 
expressed appreciation for the recent U.S. demarche 
requesting the UK to continue conducting active observation 
flights. 
 
¶11.  (SBU)  The Netherlands, on behalf of the BENELUX group 
of States Parties, delivered to USDEL their response to a 
U.S. note verbale in active quota (STATE 22230 - Active Quota 
Clarification Note Verbales).  In the reply, BENELUX 
explained the arrangement they had with Hungary and Russia 
during BENELUX's observation flight over Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
They emphasized that the observation flight was held in full 
accordance with the rules and regulations of the Treaty.  The 
BENELUX letter has been sent to VCI/CCA. 
 
FINLEY