C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 002065

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/26/2016
TAGS: PREL PHUM OSCE PINR RS MD UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE/TRANSNISTRIA: FM TARASYUK'S FRUSTRATION
WITH RUSSIAN SUPPORT TO TRANSNISTRIA

REF: KIEV 1913

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Sheila Gwaltney for reasons 1.4
(b,d).


1. (C) Summary: In a May 22 meeting with EUR DAS Kramer,
Foreign Minister Tarasyuk said Russia was reinforcing
Transnistrian leader Smirnov's resistance to procedures
required under the Ukraine-Moldova customs agreement.
Furthermore, the Russians were refusing to agree to join a
five-plus-two meeting as long as the Ukraine-Moldova customs
agreement was in force; Tarasyuk appealed for U.S. assistance
in getting Russia to drop this linkage. OSCE Chairman in
Office/Belgian Foreign Minister de Gucht was planning to
visit Moldova and Tiraspol, then arrive in Ukraine June 1.
End summary.


2. (U) EUR DAS David Kramer and Foreign Minister Borys
Tarasyuk touched on Transnistria during a May 22 meeting
before a U.S.-GUAM bilateral meeting later that day. Second
Territorial Department Director Anatoliy Ponomarenko and
U.S.A. and Canada Desk Acting Chief Yuriy Nykytiuk sat in on
the Ukrainian side. DCM and PolOff accompanied Kramer.

USG supportive on Transnistria issue
--------------


3. (C) DAS Kramer thanked Tarasyuk for Ukraine's leadership
in resolving the thorny issue of the breakaway Moldovan
region of Transnistria. He looked forward to working with
Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Veselovsky, who had assumed
responsibility for Transnistria from special negotiator
Dmytro Tkach and with whom Kramer would share an early
morning flight to Brussels May 24. Kramer praised Ukraine's
action in implementing a customs agreement with Moldova, a
step that he characterized as "absolutely the right thing to
do."


4. (C) Tarasyuk expressed gratitude for U.S. and EU support
to Ukraine. He complained that Moscow was abetting
Transnistrian leader Igor Smirnov's resistance to Moldovan
government registration of Transnistrian business

enterprises, as required by the Ukraine-Moldova customs
procedures. (See also reftel reporting former National
Security and Defense Council Secretary Anatoliy Kinakh's
similar comments.) Lack of Moldovan registration was
creating a problem for major Transnistrian producers, such as
the metallurgical plant in Ribnitsa. Transnistrian business
persons were becoming increasingly dissatisfied, with
friction growing between Smirnov and a group led by
Transnistrian Assembly leader ("speaker") Yevgeny Shevchuk.
Russia was applying pressure on Moldova by implementing steps
such as its ban on imports of Moldovan wine. (Note: The
media later reported that the plant, Ribnitsa Steel,
otherwise known as Moldova Metallurgical Plant, obtained
Moldovan government registration. Another major firm,
Electromash, also obtained temporary registration.)


5. (C) On May 18, Tarasyuk continued, he had met with Russian
Foreign Minister Lavrov on the margins of a Council of Europe
meeting in Strasbourg. Lavrov still "dreamed" that Ukraine
would suspend its implementation of the customs agreement,
but Tarasyuk said he had stressed to Lavrov that there were
no grounds for such hopes. Moscow appeared intent on holding
the five-plus-two negotiations on Transnistria hostage by not
agreeing to participate in five-plus-two while the customs
agreement was in force. Tarasyuk urged the USG to use its
influence to have Russia drop this linkage. At the same
time, Ukrainian officials were pushing the Moldovan
government to legitimate the process of Transnistrian
privatizations.


6. (C) Tarasyuk said OSCE Chairman in Office/Belgian Foreign
Minister Karel de Gucht was scheduled to visit Moldova,
including Transnistria, and Kiev. Tarasyuk had suggested
meeting de Gucht on Ukraine's border with
Moldova/Transnistria, then proceeding together to Odesa to
link up with Moldovan Foreign Minister Stratan before flying
from Odesa to Kiev.


7. (C) Kramer said resolution of the issue of Moldovan
farmers' access to their farms in Dubossary had been a
welcome development. He agreed that pressure was mounting
against Smirnov, both for his response to the Ukraine-Moldova
customs agreement and for his foolish decree prohibiting
foreign financing of NGOs. Kramer again praised Ukraine's
role with respect to Transnistria and noted that, while
Russian and Ukraine alone had the potential to change the
status quo in Transnistria, only Ukraine had followed through
on its commitments.


KIEV 00002065 002 OF 002



8. (U) DAS Kramer did not review this cable.


9. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Gwaltney