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