DFM YAKOVENKO: "DISAPPOINTMENT" OVER US RAISING OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 012917 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2016 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UNSC RS BO SUBJECT: DFM YAKOVENKO: "DISAPPOINTMENT" OVER US RAISING OF BELARUS IN SECURITY COUNCIL Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Daniel Russell: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) On December 13, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Yakovenko called the Ambassador to register "concern and disappointment" over U.S. efforts in the Security Council to raise the plight of Belarusian opposition leader Aleksandr Kozulin, despite Belarus not being on the UNSC agenda. Yakovenko said that the GOR sought to work effectively with the United States in the Security Council; in order to do so, he reiterated, both countries needed to coordinate on the agenda ahead of time. Yakovenko underscored that he was calling on instructions from the Foreign Minister. The Ambassador undertook to convey the GOR message. ¶2. (SBU) At Yakovenko's request, acting Director of the International Organizations Department Vladimir Zayemskiy subsequently reviewed this issue in detail with the DCM. Zayemskiy stated that the U.S. at the December 12 Security Council consultative session had committed two procedural fouls. First, the U.S. had insisted on raising Kozulin's plight despite the fact that Belarus was not on the agreed agenda for the meeting; the UNSC had a well-established procedure to fix the agenda for consultative sessions. Zayemskiy acknowledged that the U.S. representative had stated that he was acting under instruction from Washington. Second, Zayemskiy alleged that the U.S. had briefed journalists on the consultative session and its attempts to raise Kozulin's plight; the consultative sessions are closed door meetings and the established procedure is that, if there is to be a press statement, it is agreed to by participants at the session. ¶3. (SBU) Zayemskiy emphasized that the U.S. and Russia almost never had procedural differences at the Security Council. He claimed, in fact, that U.S. and Russian positions on UN procedural issues were very close. Zayemskiy urged that, whatever our differences on substance, our longtime productive working relationship at the UNSC benefited from mutual observance of well-established procedures, to which both of our delegations should strictly adhere. BURNS