UKRAINE: GOU REQUEST FOR SUPPORT/UNDERSTANDING ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIEV 001127 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV PARM MOPS SUBJECT: UKRAINE: GOU REQUEST FOR SUPPORT/UNDERSTANDING ON UN PKO MISSION IN LIBERI Classified By: DCM, reason 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see para 4. ¶2. (SBU) During a March 13 meeting between EUR DAS Kramer and Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko, and in a follow-up discussion between DATT and Deputy Defense Minister Leonid Polyakov March 17, the MoD officials requested U.S. assistance in connection with Ukraine's peacekeeping contingent currently operating in a UN Peacekeeping operation (PKO) in Liberia. The unit involved is the 56th Separate Helicopter Detachment. According to Hrytsenko and Polyakov, UN DPKO requested that the Government of Ukraine (GOU) expand the contingent's mission to include cross-border helicopter support missions in neighboring Sierra Leone. The MoD officials said they expected to receive an official request to also include missions in Cote d'Ivoire. ¶3. (SBU) Hrytsenko and Polyakov stated that MoD and the MFA both supported this UN DPKO request, but the GOU had to take certain administrative measures before Ukraine would be able to fulfill the mission. The current legislation authorizing the deployment only allowed the Liberia contingent to conduct operations within Liberia. Therefore, the relevant Presidential Deployment Decree had to be amended, and amendments had be approved by the Rada (parliament). Taking into account the time required to develop the necessary amendment and the need, after March 26 Rada elections, to wait until a parliamentary majority and government are formed, the officials estimated that the GOU would not be able to provide a positive response to UN DPKO until at least the end of May. ¶4. (SBU) Action request: Post requests that Deparment instruct USUN to convey to UN DPKO U.S. support for Ukraine's fulfilling the UN DPKO request for a mission change, but on a timeline that, if possible, takes into account the above-described timelines made necessary by Ukrainian legal and political circumstances. ¶5. (C) Comment: Hrytsenko and the GOU are sensitive about UN PKO missions in the wake of UN DPKO's decision to terminate a Ukrainian mission to Lebanon and withdraw acceptance of a Ukrainian contribution to the Golan Heights PKO after a UN audit uncovered corruption by the former commanders of the Ukrainian contingent in Lebanon. Hrytsenko had previously appealed for our assistance in the case of the Golan mission. The GOU very much wishes to be seen as a contributor to global security through PKOs and does not want to lose another opportunity. Deputy DefMin Polyakov told us late March 17 that the GOU is concerned that a delayed response to this latest request may reinforce UN DPKO perceptions that Ukraine is an unreliable force provider. The GOU wants to fill the mission, but its ability to move quickly through the bureaucratic procedures necessary to obtain legal authority is hampered by politicking surrounding the upcoming elections. ¶6. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website at: www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev. Herbst