POLES WELCOME U.S.-RUSSIA SUMMIT RESULTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 000718 SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/CE AND EUR/RUS (ELLISON) E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/10/2019 TAGS: PREL PARM MCAP MARR NATO RS PL SUBJECT: POLES WELCOME U.S.-RUSSIA SUMMIT RESULTS REF: STATE 70576 Classified By: Political Counselor F. Daniel Sainz for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) ¶1. (C) GoP officials welcomed the results of the U.S.-Russia Summit and were cautiously optimistic that it would lead to a substantial improvement in U.S.-Russian relations. Marek Szczygiel of the MFA's Security Policy Department said Poland appreciated, in particular, that the U.S. had not sacrificed the proposed missile defense program in Central Europe for the sake of improved relations with Russia. (NOTE: ForMin Radoslaw Sikorski and other senior GoP officials made similar comments during the July 8 visit of Acting U/S Stephen Mull, reported septel.) Nonetheless, Szczygiel sounded a note of concern when he reported that the Russian Ambassador to Poland had commented to MFA officials that Moscow would insist that results of the joint U.S.-Russia threat assessment should be incorporated into Washington's ongoing missile defense review. Szczygiel said the MFA had interpreted these remarks to mean that Russia would not yield on its demand that Washington give up on missile defense in Central Europe in return for Russian cooperation. He also referred to Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's published comments demanding that Washington cancel plans for missile defense in Central Europe. ¶2. (C) On U.S.-Polish relations, Szczygiel said various factors were converging -- completion of the U.S. missile defense review by the end of summer, clarification of details for the Patriot missile rotation, and ongoing site surveys for the Patriots. He suggested that the bilateral Strategic Cooperation Consultative Group (SCCG) should meet soon, for the first time under the Obama administration. Szczygiel emphasized that the prospect of further U.S.-Russia discussions on missiles and missile defense increased the urgency of such talks. In addition, he said, an early SCCG meeting would highlight the importance of the U.S.-Polish security relationship and provide the Polish public a much-needed demonstration that ties to the U.S. were not always one-sided. ASHE