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