UKRAINIAN CHARGE ON LUKASHENKO-YUSHCHENKO MEETING

C O N F I D E N T I A L MINSK 000198

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2017
TAGS: PREL PBTS MNUC PINR BO UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINIAN CHARGE ON LUKASHENKO-YUSHCHENKO MEETING
PROSPECTS

REF: KYIV 478

Classified By: Ambassador Karen Stewart for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Ukrainian Charge Aksana Kitsun assured DCM March 5
that the Ukrainians want any meeting between Presidents
Yushchenko and Lukashenko to bring concrete, positive
results. She reported that Ukrainian Presidential
Secretariat Deputy Head for Foreign Policy Oleksandr Chaliy

SIPDIS
met with Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko on
February 22 in Minsk to discuss plans for that meeting.


2. (C) According to Kitsun, Chaliy raised the importance of
the release of political prisoners with Lukashenko, who
allegedly responded that a shortening of former opposition
presidential candidate Aleksandr Kozulin's five and
one-half-year sentence might be possible. Separately, Kitsun
noted that possible dates for the visit would be March 16 or
19; DCM pointed out that the latter date will be the one-year
anniversary of the stolen presidential elections in 2006.

Comment
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3. (C) Kitsun, who said that Chaliy is a strong contender
for the post of Ukrainian Foreign Minister, found it
interesting that Lukashenko received Chaliy when he had
refused to meet with Ukrainian Presidential Secretariat Head
Viktor Baloha (Chaliy's boss) during a previous visit; she
was prepared to interpret that as a sign of some flexibility
on Lukashenko's part, a view we are not ready to endorse. We
defer to Kyiv to judge Chaliy's credibility and professional
prospects; the idea that anyone has been able to get
Lukashenko thinking about leniency with regard to political
prisoners is interesting, although as of this writing
Kozulin's sentence remains unchanged.
Stewart