Greece Supports EU Renewal of Belarus Sanctions and

C O N F I D E N T I A L ATHENS 001633 SENSITIVE SIPDIS EUR/UMB FOR JOSEPH WANG AND EUR/ERA FOR RACHEL WOLFE AMEMBASSY ANKARA PASS TO AMCONSUL ADANA AMEMBASSY ASTANA PASS TO USOFFICE ALMATY AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL DUSSELDORF AMEMBASSY BERLIN PASS TO AMCONSUL LEIPZIG AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PASS TO AMEMBASSY PODGORICA AMEMBASSY HELSINKI PASS TO AMCONSUL ST PETERSBURG AMEMBASSY ATHENS PASS TO AMCONSUL THESSALONIKI AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL VLADIVOSTOK AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PASS TO AMCONSUL YEKATERINBURG E.O. 12958: DECL: 2019/11/16 TAGS: PREL PHUM BO GR EUN SUBJECT: Greece Supports EU Renewal of Belarus Sanctions and Suspension REF: STATE 112644 CLASSIFIED BY: Alan Purcell, Acting Political Counselor; REASON: 1.4(B),(D) ¶1. (C) PolOff met November 10 with Vassilis Tselios, Deputy Head of the C1 EU External Relations Directorate, to discuss a coordinated Belarus sanctions policy. Tselios - the Greek MFA's point person for EU- Eastern partner affairs - noted that Greece does not have an embassy in Minsk and therefore relies on information trickling in from international organizations such as the OSCE and EU for an assessment of the current conditions in country. Given the current lack of improvement or reform on the part of Belarus, Tselios said Greece is in favor of the status quo sanctions measures and therefore will support the renewal of the sanctions against Belarus and also the renewal of the suspension of these sanctions. In his calculation, this combination will continue to create the right amount of leverage for encouraging Belarus to enact reforms and demonstrate respect for human rights and the rule of law. Tselios estimated that the EU consensus decision on the issue would also be to renew both sanctions and the suspension of sanctions against Belarus through October 2010. Speckhard