REGIME TO DEMAND EMBASSY STAFF REDUCTION TO

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 MINSK 000215

SIPDIS

NOFORN

SIPDIS
STATE FOR D, P, M, EUR, CA, DS, DGHR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/25/2033
TAGS: PREL OFDP AMGT CMGT BO
SUBJECT: REGIME TO DEMAND EMBASSY STAFF REDUCTION TO
FIVE/FIVE: GUIDANCE REQUEST

REF: A. MOORE-BOEHME TELCON 03/25/08

B. MINSK 208

C. STATE 30493

Classified By: Charge Jonathan Moore for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (S/NF) As reported ref A, Presidential Foreign Policy
Advisor Valentin Rybakov informed Charge March 25 that unless
the U.S. reversed the guidance issued by the U.S. treasury
Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control March 6, Charge
would be summoned to the MFA on Monday March 31 and informed
of the following:

-- Based on the deterioration of diplomatic relations between
the United States and Belarus, the GOB would reduce their
staff at the Belarusian Embassy in Washington and the
Belarusian Consulate General in New York to five/five persons.

-- The U.S. Embassy in Minsk would be "requested" to reduce
its staff to five/five U.S. diplomats by the afternoon of
April 7. 2008. In the event the Embassy did not comply,
staff would be declared persona non grata.


2. (S/NF) Charge told Rybakov that this was a grave mistake
which would further damage Belarus' standing. Rybakov was
unrepentant and stated only that this was a decision by
Lukashenko himself. Upon returning to the Embassy, Charge
briefed country team and received concurrence to present the
following options to the interagency.

Option One: Move to Five Positions by April 7
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3. (S/NF) The Embassy's country team (A/DCM, AID, RSO, RAO,
DATT, MGT, AMB OMS) supports this option: even if the Embassy
ends up being closed in the near future, the best way to
prepare for that is to accede to the request in the interim
and submit a list of five positions to remain. While
classified processing would have to be suspended, that would
permit us to make the necessary arrangements to safeguard,
transport, and protect valuable Embassy property and
sensitive (SBU) information; the transport of classified
equipment and materials is already well underway in
anticipation of the previously required drawdown to 17
American staff (ref A). It would also give us a policy upper
hand: when we are ready to shut down, we give the GOB an
ultimatum to close their Embassy and Consulate General in the
U.S. instead of being subject to their dictates. A list of
the potential five positions has been e-mailed to Ambassador
Karen Stewart in EUR/UMB.

Option Two: Move to Close All Operations by April 7
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4. (S/NF) The Embassy's country team does not support this
option. Closing post on/by April 7 would be cast by the
regime as the ultimate sign of U.S. weakness. (A delay in
doing so, as in Option 1, would allow us to plan for closure
and tie that step to the regime's next human rights outrage,
rather than to diplomats' pique.) It would also result in
the abandonment of considerable amounts of Embassy property
including unclassified computer equipment and much of our
motor pool (as well as much of the personal property of our
American staff). Large amounts of SBU information --
financial and personnel files, as well as visa applications
-- that would be ideally destroyed or archived elsewhere
would have to be abandoned. It must also be mentioned that
our local staff -- already the only LES in Europe that
receive a 7% Unique Conditions of Work Allowance, on the
basis of the constant harassment they face from the local
authorities -- would suffer greatly if we are not able at a
minimum to make arrangements for a protecting power in the
form of a European embassy, make final salary
payments/severance payments, and in some cases process them
for special immigrant visas.

Action Requests
--------------


5. (S/NF) In addition to obtaining interagency decision on
which option to pursue in paras 3 and 4 above, post requests
the following on an immediate basis:

MINSK 00000215 002 OF 002



-- State Department/DS guidance regarding the timing for the
suspension of classified operations (one agency at post has
already initiated this process);

-- State Department authorization for all/all employees to
pack out/"safehaven" HHE.

Comment
--------------


6. (U) This Embassy is proud to be bearing the brunt of the
dictatorship's reaction to the policy we all support and have
been honored to carry out. All of us at post are deeply
thankful for the personal sentiments expressed by the
Secretary (ref C) and the profound assistance of State

SIPDIS
Department and other agencies as we work through this
difficult time.
MOORE