Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KYIV224
2007-01-31 16:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kyiv
Cable title:  

UKRAINE: REACTION TO MISSILE DEFENSE MEDIA REPORTS

Tags:  MARR MCAP PREL PINR US UP 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3917
PP RUEHDBU
DE RUEHKV #0224/01 0311640
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 311640Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY KYIV
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1065
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHZG/NATO EU COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000224 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2017
TAGS: MARR MCAP PREL PINR US UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: REACTION TO MISSILE DEFENSE MEDIA REPORTS

REF: A. WARSAW 127


B. PRAGUE 52

C. STATE 7446

D. STATE 7445

E. 06 STATE 27075

F. 06 KIEV 1772

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KYIV 000224

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/31/2017
TAGS: MARR MCAP PREL PINR US UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: REACTION TO MISSILE DEFENSE MEDIA REPORTS

REF: A. WARSAW 127


B. PRAGUE 52

C. STATE 7446

D. STATE 7445

E. 06 STATE 27075

F. 06 KIEV 1772

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


1. (U) This is an action request. See para 9.


2. (C) Summary: Defense Minister Hrytsenko told Ambassador
January 29 that the U.S. announcement about its preparedness
to locate missile defense facilities in Poland and the Czech
Republic had the unintended consequence in Ukraine of
reinforcing the positions of opponents of Ukraine's closer
relations with NATO. The media and Ukrainian politicians
have had questions about the announcement and its
implications for Russia. The Foreign Ministry sought to
reassure the public with its own statement. End summary.

Ukraine Reacts
--------------


3. (U) News reports on January 22 that the U.S. government
had offered to locate missile defense facilities in the Czech
Republic and Poland (refs A and B) created ripples of
concern, if not actual alarm, in the Ukrainian media and
elicited a political reaction. A journalist asked Ambassador
January 23 about the news reports during a press conference
for a visiting Millennium Challenge Corporation delegation
and, on January 24, press accounts reported his assurances
that the deployment would not threaten neighboring countries.
On January 30, however, Prime Minister Yanukovych was
implicitly critical of the U.S. at a press conference in Lviv
for not consulting beforehand with the two countries'
neighbors and noted the move would alarm Russia. During a
January 30 television interview after tendering his
resignation as Foreign Minister, Borys Tarasyuk said the U.S.
had not offered to locate any missile defense facility in
Ukraine and noted that Ukraine should proceed deliberately
and consult with Poland and the Czech Republic before taking
a position on the issue.


4. (U) Responding to allegations carried in the Russian media
regarding Hrytsenko's personal role, the Defense Ministry

released a statement January 30 that "Defense Minister
Anatoliy Hrytsenko has not articulated any initiatives (sic)
regarding Ukrainian-U.S. cooperation in the missile
technology or missile defense areas." Also on January 30,
MOD spokesman Andriy Lysenko told the media the Ministry of
Defense would not comment on the possibility of Ukrainian
missile defense cooperation with the U.S., since this was a
policy decision for Ukraine's leadership, the National
Security and Defense Council, and parliament to make.


5. (U) MFA handled the issue smoothly with a January 23
response to media inquiries that cited Ukraine's cooperation
with Russia on radar early warning systems and noted the U.S.
deployment of a missile defense system should "enhance the
international community's potential in combating the
proliferation and use of weapons of mass destruction."
Offering his personal opinion, Deputy Defense Minister
Volodymyr Tereshchenko also told the press January 29 that
the U.S. missile defense facilities should not concern
Ukraine.

Losing the Information Campaign
--------------


6. (C) Defense Minister Hrytsenko was blunt, however, during
his January 29 meeting with Ambassador. He had concluded
Ukraine and the U.S. lost the information campaign when they
failed to properly lay the groundwork for the announcement
that missile defense systems would be installed in countries
neighboring Ukraine. The Ministry of Defense had worked to
dispel incorrect stereotypes and misinformation causing
Ukrainians to oppose NATO membership, such as that NATO would
base nuclear weapons on Ukrainian soil or force Ukraine to
accept foreign bases. The sudden announcement was a set-back
that had reinforced the positions of NATO opponents such as
the Communist Party of Ukraine or (far-right agitator)
Nataliya Vitrenko of the Progressive Socialist Party.


7. (C) Hrytsenko continued that Ukraine and the U.S. needed
to play catch-up by thoroughly explaining that the missile
defense systems were not directed toward Russia and Ukraine
but at threats originating from the Middle East. Ukrainian
officials could use a globe to demonstrate that, despite the

KYIV 00000224 002 OF 002


contrary impression created by viewing a flat map, Poland and
the Czech Republic lay on a direct route between the Middle
East and the U.S. Hrytsenko then inquired whether the
missile defense installation's capabilities were 360 degrees.
If the technical capabilities of either the missiles or
radars were limited to a particular direction, this
information could be used to buttress the argument that they
were solely a defense against a Middle Eastern threat.


8. (U) Request any information that we could share and would
be responsive to Hrytsenko's question in para 7.


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