UKRAINE: FM TARASYUK WARNS KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 000382

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2016
TAGS: PREL PBTS KDEM PINR YI UP UNMIK OSCE
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: FM TARASYUK WARNS KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE
DESTABILIZING, FANS SEPARATIST FLAMES ELSEWHERE

REF: KIEV 336

Classified By: Ambassador for reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk said, during
a January 30 meeting with visiting Project for Transitional
Democracies Head Bruce Jackson and Ambassador, that the
Ukrainian government did not favor Kosovo independence. Such
an outcome would destabilize the political situation in
Serbia and Montenegro and act as a bad precedent for
Transnistria and fuel other separatist sentiments in the
"frozen conflicts" of the Caucasus. Jackson responded that
the international community could not "force the victims of
ethnic cleansing to return to Belgrade's control." He said
that Kosovo's independence was a given, although it might be
achieved in a gradual manner. End summary.

A Useful Visit
--------------


2. (C) Tarasyuk, Second Territorial Department Deputy
Director Ihor Prokopchuk, and other MFA officials met January
30 with Jackson, Ambassador, and Poloff (notetaker)
principally to discuss Ukraine's progress toward NATO and EU
membership. Tarasyuk also raised his visit to Kosovo and to
Serbia and Montenegro. During a January 24 visit to Kosovo,
Tarasyuk said, he had met with representatives of the ethnic
Albanian and Serbian communities and the UNMIK leadership.
He also visited locations where Ukrainian troops were
deployed and met with the U.S. general commanding the U.S.
brigade. All his interlocutors were quite positive about the
Ukrainian contribution (per Tarasyuk, 262 troops with KFOR
and 170 policemen with UNMIK). From Kosovo, Tarasuk noted,
he had proceeded to Belgrade, where he met with the SaM
President, Prime Minister, and Foreign Minister.

Kosovo Independence? Don't Go There!
--------------


3. (C) Tarasyuk said his meetings in Belgrade provided him
with a better understanding of the Serbian position on Kosovo
independence, which Tarasyuk said would only grant Kosovo a
status "more than autonomy, but less than full independence."
Belgrade was facing a referendum in Montenegro, which
Tarasyuk said would probably lead to Montenegro's separation
from its union with Serbia. If Serbia were also to lose
Kosovo, the SaM government's opponents would seize on the
developments to undermine the government; thus, the loss of
Kosovo would be a serious blow domestically. Tarasyuk's
interlocutors in Belgrade had advised Tarasyuk that they
could not accept Kosovo independence because it would upset
the existing balance of political forces in Serbia and
Montenegro.


4. (C) Furthermore, Tarasyuk continued, in addition to the
destabilizing impact on Serbia domestically, Kosovo
independence would reinforce separatist sentiments in the
so-called "frozen conflicts" in places such as Transnistria,
Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Transnistria
affected Ukraine directly, while the other conflicts would
have impacts in Georgia and Azerbaijan, countries with whom
Ukraine enjoyed friendly relations. Kosovo independence
could also influence the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina
negatively, Tarashuk warned. Who could say whether the
Albanians would stop at the formation of an ethnically
Albanian state just with Kosovo?, Tarasyuk asked
rhetorically. For these reasons, Tarasyuk concluded, the
Ukrainian government was not enthusiastic about the prospect
of Kosovo's independence.

An Out-of-Step Ukraine
--------------


5. (C) Jackson responded that the presence of ethnic
Hungarians outside of Hungary, or ethnic Romanians outside of
Romania, did not mean national boundaries must be adjusted to
create ethnically uniform countries. Geopolitical realities
dictated that Kosovo would be independent. The Serbians
could not be allowed to argue that they were so weak and
politically unstable that nothing could happen in the
Balkans, Jackson retorted with some heat, and the
international community should not force the victims of
ethnic cleansing to return to Belgrade's control. Jackson
allowed that there could be some long-term process, but he
frankly could not see any outcome other than independence for
Kosovo. He did not think the issue was a matter of debate
any longer. The Ukrainian position was completely
out-of-step with the U.S. and Western European perspective,
but he could understand that the implications for the frozen
conflicts should be carefully considered.


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