UKRAINE: MFA ON MAUP-RELATED VISA CASE

C O N F I D E N T I A L KIEV 000986 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/14/2016 TAGS: PHUM PGOV PINR SOCI SUBJECT: UKRAINE: MFA ON MAUP-RELATED VISA CASE REF: 05 KIEV 1695 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Sheila Gwaltney for reasons 1.4 (b) an d (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) MFA Director General Borys Bazylevsky told Consul General March 14 that the Ukrainian Government was considering banning the entry into Ukraine of AMCIT David Duke. The move would be part of a broader GOU effort to rein in the activities of the anti-Semitic Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP). Bazylevsky said Foreign Minister Tarasyuk had asked him to consult with the USG on the matter. End summary. MFA Call-In on MAUP... -------------- ¶2. (SBU) MFA Director General Borys Bazylevsky called in Consul General March 14 to preview a possible move by the GOU aimed at curbing the activities of the anti-Semitic Inter-Regional Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP). Bazylevsky, noting that the MFA had recently received a letter from Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA) calling for action against MAUP, stressed that the GOU had already made progress to limit the activities of "this so-called academy": MAUP's license was under review by the Ministry of Education; MAUP branches in several (unspecified) regions were in the process of being closed; and, the Prosecutor General's Office had opened a criminal case against the MAUP publications "Personnel" and "Personnel Plus" (reftel). ...And David Duke -------------- ¶3. (C) As part of the broad effort to "limit" MAUP's anti-Semitic activities, Bazylevsky related that Ukrainian law enforcement agencies were considering banning the entry into Ukraine of AMCIT David Duke, who has an honorary doctorate from MAUP and has taught at the school's Kiev campus. Bazylevsky said that Duke had last entered Ukraine in June 2005 to attend an infamous MAUP conference that, among other things, called for the expulsion of all Jews from Ukraine. The presence of such a "famous anti-Semite and xenophobe" had generated media interest in the June 2005 conference and had deeply offended Ukraine's Jewish community, Bazylevsky explained. The GOU was looking to prevent Duke's attendance at future, similar MAUP events and wished to avoid "another blow-up." USG View? -------------- ¶4. (C) Bazylevsky said he had been asked by Foreign Minister Tarasyuk to consult with the Embassy about denying Duke entry into Ukraine; the GOU did not want to do something that might "cast a shadow" on the bilateral relationship. Bazylevsky indicated the GOU might ask the USG for information about Duke, particularly his criminal record. ¶5. (C) Consul General thanked Bazylevsky for the information, underscoring that every country, including the U.S., had the right to control its borders and determine whom to let in and keep out -- especially for security reasons. So long as the criteria for denying entry were not discriminatory -- for example, not based on race or nationality -- and had legal basis, the U.S. would not be in a position to second-guess Ukrainian border decisions. She noted, for example, that U.S. consular officers regularly denied visas to applicants who had committed crimes of moral turpitude. Since Duke was a convicted felon, CG understood that the GOU might have similar grounds upon which to deny his entry. She said the USG would do its best to respond, within the guidelines of the Privacy Act, to any questions the GOU might have about Duke. Gwaltney