RUSSIA'S VIEW ON GC VOTE ON MESA GROUP SEAT ON IAEA BOG

SECRET S E C R E T MOSCOW 002835 C O R R E C T E D COPY (CORRECTED INVALID DECL DATE) SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR ISN/RA FOR R. NEPHEW AND J. DANIEL, IO/T FOR H. VON BEHREN E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2018 TAGS: IAEA, PARM, MNUC, AF, SY, IR, KZ, RS SUBJECT: RUSSIA'S VIEW ON GC VOTE ON MESA GROUP SEAT ON IAEA BOG REF: STATE 99746 Classified By: DCM Eric Rubin for reasons 1.4 b and d 1. (S) On September 22, DCM and ESToff delivered reftel demarche on U.S. opposition to potential Iranian or Syrian membership on the IAEA Board of Governors (BOG) to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of Security and Disarmament Affairs Deputy Director Oleg Rozhkov. Rozhkov said that this is not a new issue for Russia or the U.S., recalling that in 2004 the BOG did not support the U.S. proposal to disallow countries under investigation from sitting on the BOG. He stated that Russia agreed with the original U.S. proposal to support Kazakhstan for the Middle East/South Asia (MESA) seat. However, in light of India's concerns (reftel), Rozhkov concurred that Afghanistan would make a good candidate as well. 2. (S) Rozhkov indicated that Russia's position on influencing the IAEA General Conference (GC) to support the U.S. position that Afghanistan should get the seat would be influenced by the potential damage of a divisive vote. He said that Russia would have few chances to block support for Iran or Syria in the GC, as the Non-aligned Movement (NAM) could easily overwhelm any attempt to do so. He added that, in Russia's view, the impact of either Iran or Syria on the BOG would be minimized because BOG membership would give neither much additional leverage to "make noise" at meetings. Rozhkov said that in Russia's opinion, a vote for Iran or Syria would not be a vote of approval for their past or current activities. DCM noted that the U.S. disagrees and would object to Iranian or Syrian membership on grounds of principle, but also because of the precedents it would set. Rozhkov said he understood our position but warned that an overt attempt to influence the vote would set a bad precedent and could backfire with non-aligned members. BEYRLE