VZCZCXYZ0010
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMO #1355/01 0871142
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281142Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8695
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 3013
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA PRIORITY 0072
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 2362

UNCLAS MOSCOW 001355 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR EUR/RUS, EUR/PRA AND ISN/WMDT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNNP PARM PREL PTER PINR KGIT RS
SUBJECT: GLOBAL INITIATIVE TO COMBAT NUCLEAR TERRORISM: 
US-RUSSIA CONSULTATIONS ON NEXT STEPS 
 
REF: A. STATE 33258 
 
     ¶B. STATE 21535 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  A US-Russia working-level meeting at the 
MFA March 27 discussed the June 11-12 meeting in Kazakhstan 
of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism (GICNT), 
and considered recruitment efforts with both the EU and the 
OSCE to broaden participation in the Global Initiative. 
Although the current list of new participants includes only 
five countries, many more states appear close to joining, and 
the results seem likely to meet the U.S. and Russian minimum 
target of a two-fold increase in participation by the Astana 
gathering.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) On March 27 T Senior Advisor Katsapis met at the 
MFA with Oleg Rozhkov, deputy director of the MFA's 
Disarmament and Security Affairs (DVBR) Directorate, for 
consultations on the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear 
Terrorism (GICNT).  EST Counselor and a DVBR staffer sat in. 
Rozhkov asked for, and received, confirmation that the USG 
still favors a June 11-12 meeting in Kazakhstan, despite the 
conflict with a GICNT event in Miami.  Rozhkov also asked who 
on the US side now serves as Deputy Foreign Minister 
Kislyak's counterpart.  Katsapis said the Secretary has 
delegated all T responsibilities, including the Global 
Initiative, to ISN A/S Rood. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Rozhkov said he has promised his Kazakh MFA 
colleague to help support the Astana gathering.  He noted 
that the new participants currently number only three: 
Ukraine, Greece and Palau.  Katsapis said Israel and Cambodia 
also have endorsed the GICNT Statement of Principles. 
Rozhkov said DFM Kislyak is concerned that the new states are 
so few -- not what he expected.  The initial target was a 
two-fold or three-fold increase by the June meeting.  There 
had actually been a projection of 50 new members at one 
point.  Rozhkov said he had tried to reassure Kislyak that 
there was an inevitable delay as countries prepared their 
partnership documentation.  All the EU are still expected to 
join, which would swell the ranks significantly.  Russia had 
already received positive signals from Portugal.  Katsapis 
noted that Afghanistan too is working from the partnership 
application template which the USG had provided, and expected 
an endorsement in the near future. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Rozhkov said Kislyak had asked if the next meeting 
should be postponed to early September, to allow time for 
more new countries to join.  Katsapis said this was worth 
considering but that he did not believe it would be 
necessary.  Rozhkov said he shares our optimism that the U.S. 
and Russia should be able to declare that the participation 
has been doubled.  Numerous countries were in the wings: 
Afghanistan, Denmark, Phillippines, Finland, Latvia, Iceland, 
Bangaladesh, Czech Republic, Singapore.  Rozhkov added that 
Oman also was pending.  Katsapis mentioned that we are still 
waiting to hear from South Korea.  Consistent with U/S 
Joseph's and DFM Kislyak's statements in Ankara, Katsapis 
noted that if all the EU member states were to join, than the 
EU itself might be accorded observer status. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Katsapis asked for Russia's views on the Global 
Initiative text in the draft G-8 Statement.  Rozhkov said he 
was fine with the text and added that DVBR Director Antonov 
would have the opportunity to raise GICNT at the upcoming G-8 
nonproliferation working group meeting.  Meanwhile, during a 
recent meeting of the Collective Security Agreement (CSTO) 
countries, Russia had urged Kyrgystan, Tajikstan, Armenia and 
Belarus to join.  The reaction had been positive.  Katsapis 
said the USG had contacted the OSCE secretariat about 
providing a statement of support.  The OSCE's 56 nations 
could be lobbied over the next few weeks.  Rozhkov agreed 
that a two-fold expansion was within reach. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Rozhkov noted that Egypt had approached Moscow 
about joining as an observer.  Katsapis said this would 
undermine GICNT efforts to expand actual participation. 
Rozhokov agreed.  Katsapis said the GICNT also needs 
countries such as Argentina and Brazil, to expand the reach 
of GICNT.  He noted that South Africa, India and Pakistan 
were also prime recruits.  Rozhkov suggested that one of the 
themes in Astana could be to urge member states to brief 
countries that are interested in joining. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Katsapis raised the issue of public diplomacy, and 
noted that NSA Hadley and Security Council Secretary Ivanov 
would like to highlight the progress that has been made, and 
 
the range of US-Russia leadership.  Rozhkov seemed skeptical. 
 While on the one hand it was important to publicize, on the 
other this was an area where it would be unwise to "open up 
everything."  Rozhkov suggested the inclusion of several 
paragraphs in the G-8 statement, as well as the US-Russia 
Summit document -- "this is a must." 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Katsapis asked if Moscow foresees any problems with 
welcoming Israel, a non-NPT state before the NPT Prepcom. 
Rozhkov replied that, on the contrary, it would be a good 
example to other non-NPT states.  This was never intended to 
be an exclusive list, he said.  Katsapis agreed. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Katsapis asked Rozhkov to consider follow-up 
demarches to the European countries most interested in EU 
participation in the Initiative and encourage them to urge 
other EU states to join in.  Rozhkov said the upcoming 
EU-Russia summit would provide a "good occasion" to lobby the 
Europeans, as would the pending US-EU summit.  Katsapis 
agreed.  He underscored that the EU's gaining observer status 
would hinge on all 27 EU states becoming GICNT partners. 
RUSSELL