VZCZCXRO1422
OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHLA RUEHMRE RUEHROV RUEHSL
DE RUEHNO #0041/01 0291155
ZNY SSSSS ZZH
O 291155Z JAN 10
FM USMISSION USNATO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3815
INFO RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 6592
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUDKSR/EUCOM PLANS AND ANALYSIS STUTTGART GE PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEHNO/USDELMC BRUSSELS BE PRIORITY
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 0625
RHMFISS/USNMR SHAPE BE PRIORITY

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 USNATO 000041 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/28/2020 
TAGS: KCFE NATO PARM PREL MCAP MASS MARR XG ZK
SUBJECT: CFE/VCC: VCC EXPERTS AND CFE ALLOCATIONS FOR THE 
15TH YEAR OF THE RESIDUAL PERIOD 
 
Classified By: D/POLAD Alejandro "Hoot" Baez for reasons 1.4(B)&(D). 
 
¶1.  (S)  At the 17 December Verification Coordination 
Committee Experts Meeting the U.S. secured the following CFE 
inspections for the 15th year of the residual period 
beginning 16 March: 
 
Non- Russian Inspections: 
 
- 1 Quota Inspection in Azerbaijan 
 
- 1 Quota Inspection in Ukraine 
 
- 1 Flank Inspection in Ukraine 
 
- 3 Additional Paid Inspections in Ukraine 
 
Inspections in Russia: 
 
- 4 Quota Inspections in the Russian Federation 
 
- 7 Quota Inspections of Objects of Verification (OOVs) 
eligible for Flank Supplementary Inspections in the Russian 
Federation 
 
- 7 Supplementary Flank Inspections in the Russian Federation. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
2010 VCC Activities Calendar Deconfliction 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶2.  (C)  Allies began the VCC Experts meeting by 
deconflicting the 2010 calendar. Aside from minor 
administrative corrections, Allies agreed, in principle, not 
to schedule activities in consecutive weeks for countries 
that have a limited capability to support incoming teams.  As 
a result, Allies rescheduled activities in Azerbaijan, 
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan, and Serbia to ensure at least 
a one-week break between activities. The deconflicted 
calendar has been distributed under AC/319-WP(2009)0006-REV5. 
 (Note. - Georgia was initially identified for rescheduling. 
However, several Allies noted that Georgia had urged Allies 
to conduct activities in Georgia and to schedule them early 
in the year, presumably to exhaust quotas before Russia has a 
chance to notify an activity.  Therefore, the schedules for 
activities in Georgia were unchanged. End Note.) 
 
¶3.  (C)  Turkey raised the issue of whether Allies should 
accept invitations from partners for slots as guest 
inspectors/evaluators if the uncoordinated activity will 
result in the loss of an opportunity by another Ally. 
Hungary, Estonia, the UK, France and Belgium argued that 
Allies should be allowed to accept the invitation since the 
alternative, to decline the invitation, would mean that NATO 
would lose all access for that activity.  Turkey and Norway 
countered that, as a matter of principle, Allies should 
decline such invitations. The Experts Chair (Wiederholtz) 
announced that this issue would be raised at the next VCC on 
21 Jan. 
 
------------------ 
Any Other Business 
------------------ 
 
¶4.  (C)  At the beginning of the meeting the Chair 
(Wiederholtz) announced that Germany had broken silence on 
AC/319-N(2009)0038, Experts Tasking VD99.  According to 
Wiederholtz, Germany's statement was that the discussion of 
issues on improving VD99 was more appropriate for Vienna and 
not at the VCC.  Germany stated they wanted to discuss the 
issue at the next VCC meeting.  Wiederholtz announced that 
the IS would raise this issue in the VCC in January. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Wiederholtz requested that Nations provide initial 
CFE inspection schedules to the IS by 15 January.  Experts 
would meet the morning of 21 January to deconflict the CFE 
inspection calendar. 
 
-------------- 
On the Margins 
-------------- 
 
USNATO 00000041  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6. (C)  Norway (Dalaaker) asked to meet separately with 
countries holding VD 99 quotas for activities in Russia, 
Belarus and Kazakhstan. Dalaaker reported that he talked to 
verification representatives from Switzerland, Austria, 
Finland and Sweden in an attempt to deconflict NATO's 
activities in the aforementioned countries of interest. 
(Note. At the November VCC , Allies agreed, in principle, to 
schedule their inspections to these countries during periods 
of military activity. By refraining from inspecting these 
countries until Summer/Autumn - the periods in which these 
countries habitually conduct major training exercises - 
Allies risk losing inspection opportunities to partners. 
Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and Austria are the partner 
countries most likely to conduct an inspection in these 
countries. End Note.)  Dalaaker reported that Austria and 
Switzerland were not planning to conduct inspections in 
Russia. Finland and Sweden plan on conducting activities in 
Russia and Belarus, but Finland was open to informal 
coordination and Sweden was planning no activity until 
October. Switzerland was planning an inspection to Kazakhstan 
sometime before expected Allied inspections.  Dalaaker 
suggested that Allies should consider offering inspection 
slots to Finland or Sweden, and indicated that he would keep 
Allies informed of any additional contacts. 
 
¶7.  (C)  Having just returned from the Heads of Verification 
(HOV) meeting in Vienna, Wiederholz reported in the Experts 
meeting that the Russian delegation stated that their 
verification center planned to reduce its personnel strength 
by 100, or by nearly one third.  On the margins, Wiederholtz 
reported to USDel that the head of the Russian arms control 
delegation in Vienna (Ulyanov) had told the German 
Delegation, during a bilateral meeting, that Russia would be 
content to "let CFE sleep" in 2010 in favor of focusing 
attention on revising VD 99. (Note. Wiederholtz did not 
indicate whether Ulyanov was referring to the Russian 
Federation, or the Russian delegation in Vienna. End Note.) 
DAALDER