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PP RUEHAST RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL
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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 240638Z JUL 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6513
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE
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RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 USOSCE 000173 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA 
JCS FOR J-5 
OSD FOR ISA (KEHL, WALLENDER) 
NSC FOR NILSSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE
SUBJECT: OPEN SKIES TREATY: JANUARY-JULY 2009 END OF ROUND; 
LAYING GROUNDWORK FOR REVCON UNDER U.S. CHAIR 
 
REF: STATE 4932 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The winter/spring session of the Open 
Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) saw initial preparation 
for the second Review Conference, incremental progress on the 
draft decision for digital sensors, agreement on a 
consolidated Cost decision, and discussion of airspace 
restrictions in the Moscow area.  OSCC business continues to 
be positive and collaborative.  The OSCC adopted four 
Decisions and one Chairman's Statement.  All U.S. goals 
(reftel) were met or exceeded. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Key issues for the fall include development of the 
agenda for the Review Conference, the annual distribution of 
active quotas, and achieving progress on the digital sensor 
decision.  The OSCC plenary fall schedule has meetings on 
September 14, October 19, November 23, and December 14. 
USDel strongly recommends that a sensor working group meeting 
be scheduled in early October in order to advance progress on 
this important issue (paras 6 and 7.)  End Summary. 
 
------------------ 
Second Review Conference Set for June 2010 
------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) In the spring, USDel worked with the Treaty 
depositaries (Hungary and Canada) to begin preparation of the 
Treaty-mandated second Review Conference (RC).  The 
depositaries announced is would be held in 2010 under the 
U.S. Chairmanship (per alphabetical selection).  In July, the 
OSCC adopted a Decision to hold the RC on June 7-9, 2010 
(OSCC.DEC/4/09).  USDel also provided a draft Decision to the 
OSCC on the Rules of Procedure for the RC for adoption in 
September. 
 
¶4. (SBU) With these functional modalities well underway, 
USDel held a broad series of consultations on preparation of 
the agenda of the RC, including goals and objectives for RC 
desired outcomes.  Allies and Russia alike welcomed these 
initial food for thought discussions, and agreed that the RC 
should be future-oriented.  Russia requested that the U.S. 
convene an Informal Working Group on RC Planning.  USDel 
urged Russia to work with us on finding solutions that will 
allow adoption of the digital sensor decision prior to the 
RC. 
 
------------------- 
Progress on Sensor Decision Slow 
------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) In February, the OSCC agreed on a Chairman's 
Statement that allows procurement and testing of equipment to 
move forward (OSCC.DEL/19/08/Rev 1).  The OSCC also agreed to 
extend the work of the IWGS in 2009 (OSCC.DEC/1/09).  The 
technical parameters in the Statement will be included in the 
final version of the draft Revision One to Decision 14 
(digital video).  However, the Informal Working Group on 
Sensors (IWGS) meetings in March, chaired by the U.S. (Scott 
Simmons), sought without success to further hammer out rules 
that would govern, in accordance with Treaty provisions, the 
use of digital cameras during Open Skies Observer missions. 
Although Russian experts were engaged seriously, progress 
remains frustratingly slow due to the complexity of the 
discussions. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment:  USDel was struck how in informal 
consultations that all delegations understood the growing 
urgency of the sensors issue so all can go digital.  Given 
the high cost of Open Skies implementation, if the product 
remains awkward wet film imagery, delegations are concerned 
this will cause even more cost-benefit questions to arise. 
At some point, this could imperil the sustainability of the 
Treaty with budget-minded ministries and politicians.  The 
Russian delegation seemed sensitive to this point, too. 
Despite several years of highly-technical IWGS work without 
an agreement, delegates remain patient, but agreed that 
 
USOSCE 00000173  002 OF 003 
 
 
adopting the digital sensor decision prior to the RC is a top 
priority. End comment. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Delegations are awaiting another IWGS meeting or 
workshop to analyze digital data so the outstanding issues 
remaining can be resolved.  USDel strongly recommends that an 
IWGS evm+1`E0bAeduled in earl`aVber in order to advance 
progress on this important issue. 
 
--------------- 
Other OSCC Activity: 
--------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) In addition, 
 
--The OSCC agreed on a consolidated Decision on the 
Distribution of Costs (OSCC.DEC/2/09).  This document 
incorporates all previously agreed decisions dealing with a 
variety of implementation expenses.  With adoption of this 
Decision, the active agenda of the Informal Working Group on 
Rules and Procedures (IWGRP) was complete.  The Russian Chair 
of the IWGRP announced that the working group would not meet 
unless new proposals were brought forward; 
 
--The OSCC adopted a revision to the annual distribution of 
quotas to take account of the fact that Latvia could not 
conduct two (out of three) of its planned missions.  Both 
were shared with other partners, and the decision removes 
Latvia from the sharing arrangement.  (OSCC.DEC/3/09); 
 
--In January and July, USDel raised our ongoing concerns with 
Russia continuing to impose altitude restrictions over the 
Moscow airspace zone (OSCC.RP/3/09 and OSCC.JOUR/156, Annex 
2); 
 
--Norway announced that it will use a P3 aircraft in the 
future, and requested progress on the sensor decision so it 
can procure digital sensors next year.  In doing so, Norway 
will be dropping its future participation in the group that 
shares C-130 aircraft with a POD of sensors; 
 
--The OSCC agreed to hold the annual quota distribution for 
2010 on October 8-9 (OSCC.INF/8/09); 
 
--Lithuania complained about Russia's unauthorized seizure of 
its film copy upon exit from Moscow.  Russia agreed it was a 
mistake by customs authorities, returned the film promptly to 
Lithuania, and promised this would not happen again; 
 
--USDel held a meeting with members of the Western European 
Union (WEU) to discuss the 1995 agreement allowing additional 
observation flights.  USDel confirmed that the WEU members 
are willing to continue implementing the arrangement with 
Russia, which allows them to conduct additional flights after 
all the Treaty quota flights have been conducted. 
 
-------------- 
Fall Session Issues 
------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) There are three main areas of focus for the upcoming 
Open Skies session which convenes on September 14, under 
Bulgarian chairmanship: 
 
  a) OSCC adoption of the Rules of Procedure for the RC, and 
further work in preparing its agenda; 
 
  b) progress on the digital sensor decision; and 
 
  c) participation in the annual active quota distribution 
and deconfliction meetings (October 8-9). 
 
Other plenary meetings will take place on October 19, 
November 23, and December 14. 
 
¶10. (U) For more details on OSCC plenaries over the past six 
 
USOSCE 00000173  003 OF 003 
 
 
months, here follows a list of post reporting on the 
January-July Round:   USOSCE 0014; USOSCE 0045; USOSCE 0060; 
USOSCE 0105; USOSCE 0093; USOSCE 0129; USOSCE 0140; and, 
USOSCE 0168. 
Scott