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RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 2349
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 2667

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ASTANA 001090 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, ISN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL MNUC SOCI KNNP KPAO KMDR RS KZ
SUBJECT:  KAZAKHSTAN:  AMBASSADOR DELIVERS REMARKS AT EVENT 
COMMEMORATING CESSATION OF NUCLEAR TESTING AT SEMIPALATINSK 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY:  The Ambassador traveled to Semey on June 18 to 
participate in a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the 
cessation of Soviet nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. 
President Nazarbayev's speech at the event received heavy media 
coverage.  He highlighted Kazakhstan's decision soon after 
independence to give up the nuclear arsenal it had inherited from 
the USSR, urged strengthening of the global non-proliferation 
regime, and called on the United Nations to make August 29 "World 
Non-Proliferation Day." (NOTE:  The Semipalatinsk site was 
officially closed on August 29, 1991.  END NOTE.)  In his own 
remarks, the Ambassador recognized Kazakhstan's leadership on 
non-proliferation and drew on President Obama's Prague speech 
outlining U.S. policy to reduce the threat from nuclear weapons and 
materials.  END SUMMARY. 
 
CROWD OF OVER 10,000 
 
¶2.  The Kazakhstani government invited the heads of 14 diplomatic 
missions to travel to Semey on a special charter flight for the 
commemorative event.  The Ambassador and Russian Ambassador Mikhail 
Bocharnikov were asked to deliver remarks.  The Japanese and French 
ambassadors, and representatives from the British, South Korean, and 
Chinese embassies and UN mission attended.  Six invited embassies 
did not send anyone -- specifically, India, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, 
Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.  The event was also 
attended by a women's group from Japan and private citizens' groups 
from Belarus and the Ukraine, with many individuals carrying banners 
with slogans such as "world peace." 
 
¶3.  The commemoration drew a crowd of well over 10,000 people, 
according to media reports.  President Nazarbayev sat at center 
stage, surrounded by community leaders, an imam, and individuals who 
had actually witnessed the early, above-ground nuclear tests at 
Semipalatinsk.  The Ambassador, Russian Ambassador Bocharnikov, and 
Semey's akim (mayor) were seated closest to Nazarbayev. 
 
PRAISE FOR NAZARBAYEV 
 
¶4.  Official, Russian-language "Kazakhstanskaya Pravda" called 
President Nazarbayev's trip to Semei "Mission for Peace 2009."  The 
backdrop for the event was the "Stronger than Death" monument, which 
was opened in 2001 in memory of the victims of radiation in the 
Semey area.  On behalf of the people of Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev 
called on all countries that have nuclear capabilities to 
demonstrate responsibility and fulfill their international 
obligations.  "Kazakhstan has an absolute historic and moral right 
to be a leader in the global anti-nuclear movement," he argued. 
Nazarbayev called on the United Nations to declare August 29 as the 
"international day of nuclear weapons abandonment."  He also said 
that the world community should create a new universal treaty on 
"horizontal and vertical non-proliferation of nuclear weapons." 
Nazarbayev proposed prohibiting the improvement of existing nuclear 
arsenals in any form, in order to avoid a new nuclear arms race. 
 
¶5.  Pro-government, Russian-language "Liter" quotes Nazarbayev 
reflecting on the struggle to close the Semipalatinsk site before 
Kazakhstan became independent.  "It was not easy to get permission 
to close the nuclear site from the Central Committee of Soviet 
Communist Party," said the President.  The author of the article 
said that Kazakhstan is grateful to those countries that are helping 
to rehabilitate the Semey region, "however, not all countries 
realize the danger of nuclear weapons.  India, Pakistan, and North 
Korea still continue to accumulate nuclear warheads.  The position 
of our country is firm:  we are determined to fight for a 
non-nuclear peace and propose creating a global anti-nuclear 
movement." 
 
¶6.  Pro-government, Russian-language "Express K" lauded Nazarbayev's 
"historic decision to close the nuclear site and put an end to 
nuclear tests."  According to the author, "Tens of thousands of 
Semey's citizens came to the meeting holding slogans, such as 'Our 
president was the first to close a nuclear site!  Who will be 
 
ASTANA 00001090  002 OF 004 
 
 
next?,' 'Kazakhstan -- territory of peace,' and '21st century 
without nuclear weapons.'"  Nazarbayev said in his remarks, "Nuclear 
countries should set an example of goodwill and reduce their 
arsenals!  In this we support President Obama's statement (in 
Prague) about the total elimination of nuclear weapons in all the 
countries of the world." 
 
AMBASSADOR'S REMARKS GET POSITIVE COVERAGE 
 
¶7.  Pro-government, Russian-language "Izvestiya" also hailed the 
decision "made personally by Nursultan Nazarbayev" to give up the 
"world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal.  With this act Kazakhstan 
demonstrated its responsibility for the fate of humanity to the 
whole world."  The author said that the "people of Kazakhstan call 
on all other countries to join them in a global movement for 
non-proliferation and destruction of nuclear weapons."  Noting that 
there were foreign guests in attendance, including the U.S. and 
Russian ambassadors, the author quotes the Ambassador as saying that 
"in the future his country will do everything possible to reduce 
nuclear stockpiles."  The author concluded that "Russian and 
American laboratories are planning to research former nuclear test 
sites to determine which are the most dangerous." 
 
¶8.  "Express K" also singled out the Ambassador's remarks, citing 
his tip of the hat to the host country, "Kazakhstan is an 
acknowledged leader in the fight for nuclear disarmament.  There is 
a partnership among Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States that 
aims to prevent the remnants of nuclear weapons from falling into 
the hands of terrorists." 
 
¶9.  Television stations which covered the event specifically noted 
the Ambassador's praise of the leadership role in non-proliferation 
played by Kazakhstan and its president. 
 
RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR'S ADDRESS 
 
¶10.  In his address, Russian Ambassador Bocharnikov praised 
Kazakhstan for setting an example through its renunciation of 
nuclear weapons and called for full implementation of the Nuclear 
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to counter new threats and realities. 
 "A consistent package of measures is being developed with the 
active participation of Kazakhstan to enhance the effectiveness of 
the agreement and ensure unconditional fulfillment of commitments by 
all parties, based on a combination of three fundamental components 
-- namely, non-proliferation, disarmament, and the peaceful use of 
nuclear power," he explained.  Bocharnikov added that "a significant 
contribution to disarmament efforts would be the signing of a 
legally-binding U.S.-Russian agreement on further reduction and 
limitation of strategic offensive weapons, given that such a 
reduction is closely linked to the deployment of global anti-missile 
defense systems." 
 
THE AMBASSADOR'S REMARKS 
 
¶11.  In his own remarks, the Ambassador recognized Kazakhstan's 
leadership on non-proliferation and drew on President Obama's Prague 
speech outlining U.S. policy to reduce the threat from nuclear 
weapons and materials.  The large crowd loudly applauded after near 
each paragraph of President Obama's specific proposals.  Following 
is the full text of the Ambassador's address. 
 
BEGIN TEXT 
 
Twenty years ago when the Soviet Union closed the Semei Nuclear Test 
Site, no one would ever have predicted then that today the President 
of the independent Republic of Kazakhstan, the Ambassador of the 
independent Russian Federation, and the Ambassador of the United 
States would stand together as partners to mark this significant 
anniversary. 
 
It is very well known around the world that one of the great 
achievements of Kazakhstan and its president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, 
 
ASTANA 00001090  003 OF 004 
 
 
has been to renounce the nuclear weapons it inherited at 
independence and to become a leader in nuclear nonproliferation. 
For that great achievement, we honor President Nazarbayev and his 
vision of a nuclear-free world. 
 
What is much less well known is the highly successful but quiet 
partnership among Kazakhstan, the United States, and Russia to 
ensure that the dangerous remnants at this test site never fall into 
the hands of terrorists or others who would seek to do evil in the 
world. 
 
The nuclear laboratories of the United States and Russia have 
conferred closely, and continue to confer, to identify those 
specific sites within this larger test-site territory that need to 
be sealed off from the rest of the world.  Beginning in 1996, the 
government of the United States, in successful partnership with the 
appropriate agencies of the government of Kazakhstan, and in close 
consultation with the government of Russia, has worked, and 
continues to work, to ensure the total security of this site.  That 
work will continue, and will even be accelerated, because it is the 
policy of U.S. President Barack Obama to work intensively to achieve 
a nuclear-free world.  President Obama announced this visionary 
policy during a speech in Prague, the Czech Republic, on April 5 
this year.  I want to quote some of what he said. 
 
"The existence of thousands of nuclear weapons is the most dangerous 
legacy of the Cold War.  No nuclear war was fought between the 
United States and the Soviet Union, but generations lived with the 
knowledge that their world could be erased in a single flash of 
light.  Today, the Cold War has disappeared but thousands of those 
weapons have not.  In a strange turn of history, the threat of 
global nuclear war has gone down, but the risk of a nuclear attack 
has gone up.  More nations have acquired these weapons.  Testing has 
continued.  Black market trade in nuclear secrets and nuclear 
materials abounds.  The technology to build a bomb has spread. 
Terrorists are determined to buy, build or steal one.  Our efforts 
to contain these dangers are centered on a global non-proliferation 
regime. 
 
"The United States will take concrete steps towards a world without 
nuclear weapons.  To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce 
the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and 
urge others to do the same. 
 
"To reduce our warheads and stockpiles, we will negotiate a new 
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Russians this year that 
will be legally binding and sufficiently bold.  To achieve a global 
ban on nuclear testing, my administration will immediately and 
aggressively pursue U.S. ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban 
Treaty.  To cut off the building blocks needed for a bomb, the 
United States will seek a new treaty that verifiably ends the 
production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear 
weapons. 
 
"We will strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a basis 
for cooperation.  Countries with nuclear weapons will move towards 
disarmament, countries without nuclear weapons will not acquire 
them, and all countries can access peaceful nuclear energy. 
 
"We should build a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, 
including an international fuel bank, so that countries can access 
peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation.  That 
must be the right of every nation that renounces nuclear weapons, 
especially developing countries embarking on peaceful programs. 
 
"Finally, we must ensure that terrorists never acquire a nuclear 
weapon.  This is the most immediate and extreme threat to global 
security.  One terrorist with one nuclear weapon could unleash 
massive destruction.  Al Qaeda has said it seeks a bomb and that it 
would have no problem with using it.  And we know that there is 
unsecured nuclear material across the globe. 
 
 
ASTANA 00001090  004 OF 004 
 
 
"So today I am announcing a new international effort to secure all 
vulnerable nuclear material around the world within four years.  We 
will set new standards, expand our cooperation with Russia, pursue 
new partnerships to lock down these sensitive materials. 
 
"Human destiny will be what we make of it. Let us honor our past by 
reaching for a better future. Let us bridge our divisions, build 
upon our hopes, accept our responsibility to leave this world more 
prosperous and more peaceful than we found it.  Together we can do 
it." 
 
END TEXT 
 
FAGIN