UKRAINE: UPDATE ON REFOULEMENT OF UZBEKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 000659

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2016
TAGS: PHUM PGOV
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: UPDATE ON REFOULEMENT OF UZBEKS

REF: A. HULTMAN-GWALTNEY 2/16 E-MAIL

B. KIEV 558

C. 05 KIEV 4971

Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Sheila Gwaltney for reasons 1.4
(b) and (d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) On February 17, Ambassador passed Foreign Minister
Tarasyuk a non-paper on Ukraine's February 14 refoulement of
a group of Uzbek asylum seekers. Tarasyuk said that he
became aware of incident through media reports and had asked
for an explanation from the Ukrainian law enforcement
community; he pledged that MFA would respond to our concerns.
Separately, UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative Isabelle
Mihoubi told us that she and Regional Representative Simone
Wolken had met on the morning of February 17 with a group of
Uzbek community leaders and asylum seekers. The group
blasted UNHCR for being "useless" and asserted that only 10
of the 11 Uzbeks detained in Simferopol had been deported to
Uzbekistan; the 11th man was missing, they asserted, and may
have been badly beaten or possibly killed by Uzbek security
force agents -- allegations Mihoubi could not confirm.
Mihoubi related that she and Wolken had also met on February
17 with the Chairman of the Rada's Human Rights Committee,
former Foreign Minister Udovenko; he blamed "the local
authorities" in notoriously anti-Yushchenko Simferopol for
illegally deporting the Uzbeks in a bid to embarrass the
president. After "making some calls," Udovenko also claimed
that the deported Uzbeks might have been "terrorists."
Following the meeting with Udovenko, Mihoubi said that she
and Wolken had a "very short" private discussion with the
Chairman of the State Committee for Nationalities and
Migration, Serhiy Rudyk. According to Mihoubi, Rudyk was
"extremely honest," acknowledging that the Uzbeks had been
refouled in violation of Ukrainian law. He said he was
headed for Simferopol to look into the incident, which he
characterized as a matter handled exclusively by the
"security forces" of Ukraine and Uzbekistan. End summary.

FM Tarasyuk On Refoulement
--------------


2. (C) At the end of a February 17 meeting between Foreign
Minister Tarasyuk and visiting Commerce Department Deputy
Secretary David Sampson, Ambassador passed Tarasyuk ref A

SIPDIS
non-paper on Ukraine's February 14 refoulement of a group of
Uzbek asylum seekers. Tarasyuk said that he had first heard
about the incident via media reports, and had asked the
Ukrainian law enforcement community for an explanation.
Tarasyuk asserted that he had also urged his law enforcement
colleagues to "think about the foreign policy implications"
of their actions and to consult with MFA about sensitive
cases like that of controversial Russian political scientist
Kirill Frolov, who was unceremoniously deported from
Simferopol on January 27. Tarasyuk told Ambassador that MFA
would provide a response to our concerns.

UNHCR Kiev: Blasted By Uzbek Community...
--------------


3. (SBU) Kiev-based UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative
Isabelle Mihoubi told us late February 17 that she and
Regional Representative Simone Wolken had met for more than
two hours on the morning of the 17th at the Kiev office of
the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (ref B) with a group of 15
Uzbek community leaders and asylum seekers. The group
blasted UNHCR for being "useless" and asserted that only 10
of the 11 Uzbeks detained in Simferopol had actually been
deported on February 14; an 11th man was allegedly missing.
The group further claimed that the "missing man" may have
been badly beaten, or even killed, by Uzbek security force
agents who, according to Ukrainian press reports, were
present at the detention center where the men were held prior
to their deportation. Mihoubi noted that UNHCR did not know
where the 11th Uzbek detainee was, and added that she and her
colleagues were trying to find out. (Note: A Human Rights
Watch February 17 press release indicated that the 11th man
was not deported because he had relatives in Ukraine. End
note.)

...Spun By An MP...
--------------


4. (SBU) Mihoubi said that she and Wolken had met on the
afternoon of February 17 with the Chairman of the Rada
Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and
Inter-Ethnic Relations, former Foreign Minister Henadiy
Udovenko. They asked Udovenko for his help in persuading the
Ukrainian government to engage with UNHCR on the issue; thus
far, the government had only authorized a low-level official
at the State Committee on Nationalities and Migration (SCNM)
to inform UNHCR that the Uzbeks had been "deported in
accordance with Ukrainian law."


5. (SBU) The M.P., noting that he had "made some calls,"
attempted to shift the blame from the national to the Crimean
government. Udovenko asserted that "local authorities" in
vociferously pro-Russia, anti-Yushchenko Simferopol had
deported the Uzbeks in order to embarrass the Yushchenko
administration. He added, though, that the Uzbeks were
deported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU),which had
suggested that the Uzbeks "might be terrorists." Udovenko
pledged that there would be a parliamentary inquiry into the
incident.

...And Stunned By Rudyk
--------------


6. (C) Following the meeting with Udovenko, Mihoubi said that
she and Wolken had a "very short" private conversation with
SCNM Chairman Serhiy Rudyk in his office. Characterizing
Rudyk as "extremely honest" (ref C),Mihoubi asserted that
the Chairman had said that UNHCR was right: the Uzbeks had
been refouled in violation of Ukrainian law. Specifically,
he explained that the men had not been given an opportunity
to appeal their court-ordered deportation; he dismissed as
"nonsense" reports that the Uzbeks had voluntarily waived
their right to an appeal. Rudyk told UNHCR that he was
departing for Simferopol to personally look into what
happened. He emphasized that the SCNM had not been involved
in the incident, describing it as a matter handled
exclusively by the "security forces" of Ukraine and
Uzbekistan.
HERBST