SECRETARY CHERTOFF'S OCTOBER 28 VISIT TO BRATISLAVA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000496 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/CE, EUR/ERA, CA/VO E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/28/2018 TAGS: PREL CVIS LO SUBJECT: SECRETARY CHERTOFF'S OCTOBER 28 VISIT TO BRATISLAVA REF: BRATISLAVA 488 Classified By: Ambassador Vincent Obsitnik for reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (C) Summary. The October 28 visit of Secretary of Homeland Security Chertoff to Bratislava successfully completed Slovakia's long effort to qualify for entry into the Visa Waiver Program. During the six-hour stop, Chertoff met with President Gasparovic and Interior Minister Kalinak, with whom he gave a well-attended joint press conference. During the working lunch, Minister Kalinak warmly praised the U.S. for having achieved a "small miracle" by making VWP accession possible in such a short time frame. Secretary Chertoff's call on President Gasparovic was extremely cordial and ran long, as the two touched on several issues beyond VWP, e.g., Russia, Iraq, and Afghanistan. ¶2. (C) Summary cont.: Minister Kalinak spoke at length during lunch about Russia, expressing particular concern about Ukraine. Television coverage of the day's events was broad and the visit kicked off a month-long public information campaign by Embassy Bratislava to publicize VWP and ESTA. The campaign will conclude with a media event covering the issuance to Kalinak of the "last" U.S. visa before VWP goes into effect on November 17. End Summary. ¶3. (C) Looking back on the difficult, multi-faceted negotiations related to VWP accession, Secretary Chertoff also noted with appreciation the constructive approaches of key European players, e.g, Wolfgang Schauble and Franco Frattini. He highlighted a potential new U.S.-EU initiative on data sharing that he had proposed to French Interior Minister Aliot-Marie. Secretary Chertoff noted that while he hoped the French EU Presidency would be able to kick-off such an effort, the main work would likely fall under the upcoming Czech Presidency. Kalinak agreed that such an initiative would be useful, and spoke highly of his Czech counterpart's ability to move forward a cooperative agenda. Kalinak strongly seconded Secretary Chertoff's praise of Schauble, noting that he was the European leader who did most to break down the prejudices and concerns within "old Europe" about VWP expansion to the East. 4.(C) Picking up on one of the topics of the Chertoff-Gasparovic meeting, Minister Kalinak spoke at length about Russia. Kalinak touched lightly on the history of Slovak relations, i.e, a long relationship underpinned by Slavic bonds, but punctuated by a period of inequity and oppression. Now, Slovakia pursues a relationship with Russia as "an equal." Kalinak characterized Russia's relations with Georgia as uniquely complex given the influence that some ethnic Georgian political figures still wield in Moscow and the history of Georgia within the Soviet Union. He condemned in unambiguous terms Russian moves in Georgia, repeating the GOS position in support of Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty (not without commenting on Sakaashvili's miscalculations, however). ¶5. (C) Kalinak focused most intently, however, on Ukraine. He expressed deep concern about Ukraine's future, asserting that Russia would like to re-absorb Ukraine and many citizens of Ukraine, particularly in the East, fully support such an agenda. Kalinak stated repeatedly that more needs to be done to anchor Ukraine in the West and in NATO. He spoke highly of President Yuschenko, but described him as "isolated" and in need of reassurance and reaffirmation from the U.S. and Europe. Kalinak concluded with a cautionary note about the nature of the Ukrainian security services and the question of its fealty, suggesting that it is to Moscow, rather than Kyiv. Media Coverage -------------- ¶6. (U) Every daily newspaper, wire service and television program carried news of Secretary Chertoff's visit. They uniformly reported Secretary Chertoff's announcement at a press conference held with Minister of Interior Robert Kalinak that Slovak tourists will be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa as of November 17, 2008. Most news outlets also relayed that fact that the need for student and employment visas would continue. Slovakia's state broadcaster, STV, aired a story claiming that, as a result of WVP accession, Slovaks' interest in traveling to the U.S. had spiked. One travel agent stated that she had seen a 15-20 percent increase in demand for airline tickets to the U.S. Travel agencies expect the figure to double next year. ¶7. (C) Comment: We found it somewhat curious that Kalinak, seemingly apropos of nothing, launched into such a long BRATISLAVA 00000496 002 OF 002 recitation of Russia-related issues over lunch. Based on comments Kalinak made to the Ambassador in a one-on-one meeting on October 24, however, we speculate that Kalinak has been tasked with reassuring U.S. interlocutors about Slovak-Russian relations. During that meeting, Kalinak told Ambassador Obsitnik that Prime Minister Fico "only appears to be pro-Russian," and that comments that seem to be critical of the U.S. are manifestations of his "independence," not a bias against the U.S. Kalinak asked that the GOS be judged by what it does, e.g., military and security cooperation with the U.S., not by what it says. He concluded that Fico, in fact, does not think highly of the Russians, whom he believes are "two-faced"; they promise a lot but don't produce much. The U.S., by comparison, gets results. End Comment. OBSITNIK