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. Ashe