US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE1236

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001236 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EUR/NCE FOR FICHTE, PM/RSAT FOR GOROG, BONFANTE, AND 
BLOCKAGE, PM/DTCC FOR PEARTREE, H FOR BORIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2015 
TAGS: KOMC, PREL, PGOV, EZ, Czech Assault Rifles to go to the U.S. 
SUBJECT: CZECH ASSAULT RIFLES TO GO TO THE U.S., POSSIBLY 
IN REDUCED NUMBERS 
 
REF: A. STATE 154675 
 
     B. PRAGUE 1167 
 
Classified By: Political-Military Officer Brian Greaney 
 for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1) (C) Summary: Embassy Prague has notified the GOCR of 
BAFTE's confirmation that its International Import 
Certificate for up to 20,000 VZ-58 assault rifles remains 
valid. The Czech MFA licensing division will give its 
approval for the deal Aug 23. The arms supplier, citing 
negotiations with the GOCR, says it will now export "only" 
3,600 rifles. End Summary. 
 
2) (C) Pol-Mil Off Aug 23 notified the MFA that BAFTE has 
confirmed its import permit (for up to 20,000 VZ-58 assault 
rifles) remains valid until September 18, 2005 (Ref A). The 
rifles are destined for conversion to semiautomatic and 
eventual sale to U.S. consumers (Ref B). The MFA contact 
expressed thanks for the information, mentioning that the 
Czech arms exporter had placed him under significant pressure 
to issue a permit. The Czech MFA remains interested in 
staying current on new U.S. law and policy in regard to 
future weapons transfers. 
 
3) (C) A representative of arms supplier Ceska Zbrojovka told 
the Embassy August 23rd that, due to reluctance on the part 
of the GOCR, the company had been unable to negotiate 
permission to export more than 3,600 of the assault rifles to 
the United States. Our contact said Ceska Zbrojovka plans to 
export this number of rifles in advance of the September 18th 
deadline. 
 
4) (C) Comment: It appears that, even with confirmation of 
the validity of the U.S. International Import Certificate for 
this deal, the GOCR is uncomfortable with the plan to export 
10,000 assault rifles to the U.S. If the 3,600 figure turns 
out to be accurate, it is possible that this is a compromise 
between proponents of the deal and officials who fear that 
any future consequences of such a transfer would be partially 
blamed on the Czech Republic. End comment. 
 
5) (U) Post would like to thank all those involved in 
providing a timely and detailed USG response. 
MUNTER