SLOVENIA ON BELARUS SANCTIONS: CURRENT POLICY NOT

C O N F I D E N T I A L LJUBLJANA 000351 DEPT FOR EUR/UMB AND EUR/ERA, EMBASSY MINSK E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2019 TAGS: PREL EUN PHUM BO SI SUBJECT: SLOVENIA ON BELARUS SANCTIONS: CURRENT POLICY NOT WORKING REF: A. STATE 112644 ¶B. BRUSSELS 1504 Classified By: Pol-Econ Chief Yuriy Fedkiw, E.O. 12958, reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 1.(C) Pol-Econ Chief delivered reftel demarche to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine and South Caucasus Section Head Matjaz Ingolic on November 13. Ingolic said Slovenia shares the United States' general assessment of the current political situation in Belarus; Minsk simply needs to do more on reform. However, Slovenia feels the policy of isolation is not working and a policy of limited engagement would be more productive. Ingolic said the attitudes of the Belarus government are changing, and the country is "not the same Belarus of five years ago." As a result, Ingolic believes it is important to increase people-to-people exchanges between Belarus and the West. 2.(C) Ingolic argued that a continuation of sanctions as they currently stand would further frustrate the ratification of the Partnership Cooperation Agreement (PCA) and negatively impact Belarus' membership in the Eastern Partnership Initiative. Ingolic also noted the "Russia angle," saying that Moscow is waiting for the economic situation in Belarus to further deteriorate. Due to all of these concerns, Slovenia supports a timely adjustment of both sanctions and travel restrictions. Ingolic said it was important to harmonize the two measures so that they could come to an end by October 2010. At that point, Slovenia would consider the possibility of completely ending sanctions and raising travel restrictions based on the progress Belarus makes on improving its record on human rights and democracy. FREDEN