POLAND WEIGHS UKRAINIAN ROLE IN ADDRESSING

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 003387

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2015
TAGS: PREL PHUM PGOV BO UP PL
SUBJECT: POLAND WEIGHS UKRAINIAN ROLE IN ADDRESSING
RELATIONS WITH BELARUS

Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin, 1.4b,d


1. (C) Polish officials confirmed to us September 16 that
they are likely to respond positively to a Ukrainian proposal
to host a meeting at the NSA-equivalent level between Poland
and Belarus. Slawomir Kaminski, a deputy director in Polish
National Security Adviser Jerzy Bahr's office, explained that
Ukrainian DFM Dolgov had made the offer during his September
14 meeting with Bahr, following up on recent discussions
between Presidents Kwasniewski and Yushchenko concerning a
possible "mediating" role for Ukraine.


2. (C) Kaminski said that Dolgov had presented a draft paper
with some ideas for promoting democracy and civil society in
Belarus, "eighty percent" of which was acceptable to the
Poles. "Absolutely unacceptable" for the Polish government,
Kaminski stressed, were recommendations in the draft for
meetings at the presidential and foreign ministerial level (a
position reaffirmed by Polish MFA officials as well).
Nevertheless, Kaminski suggested that the Poles saw some
value in the proposed meeting of Bahr and his Belarusian
counterpart Neviglas, to be hosted by Ukrainian FM Tarasyuk
September 29 in Kiev, if only to begin talking. Kaminski
noted that Bahr was considered an appropriate interlocutor
given regular cross-border consultations that take place
among NSA equivalents in the region, including the
Belarusians.


3. (C) We encouraged Kaminski and his MFA colleagues to
maintain close coordination with us and our European partners
to ensure that we deliver consistent messages to the
Belarusian regime, which Kaminski assured was taken as a
given. He noted that discussions that day among neighboring
governments (representatives of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and
Ukraine),organized by Polish PM Belka, were part of
precisely such an effort, which will of course include
consultations with all partners. Both Kaminski and the MFA's
European Department indicated that the Poles would very much
welcome hearing any specific suggestions from us on Belarus
policy, noting that the planned September 19 coordination
meeting at the State Department might be one early
opportunity to do so.
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