US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE3094

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 003094 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/25/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PINR, UP, NL, EUN, RU 
SUBJECT: RUSSIA/UKRAINE/EU - ANGRY PUTIN, FIRM EU AGREE AT 
LEAST: "NO VIOLENCE" 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Daniel Russel for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY:  At the Russia-EU Summit in The Hague 
November 24, an "angry, aggressive" President Putin demanded 
Ukrainian law should dictated the outcome and rejected EU 
interest in finding a political solution as unwarranted and 
unnecessary.  Drawing on OSCE election monitoring 
conclusions, Dutch PM Balkenende, representing the EU 
Presidency, warned Putin that the "future EU-Ukrainian 
relationship would depend on the quality of democracy in 
Ukraine."  According to the Dutch DepPolDir Herman Schaper 
(who debriefed A/S Jones by phone), Putin characterized 
Yuschenko in the meeting as a US pawn.  At the press 
conference, the leaders spoke of an "excellent meeting" that 
made some progress in the four "Common Spaces," but the 
EU-Russia working agenda was clearly overshadowed by serious 
disagreement over Ukraine.  End Summary. 
 
2.  (C)  The DCM spoke with two EU DCMs on November 26, who 
reported that Tony van der Togt (MFA Eastern Europe Director) 
had debriefed EU COMs late November 24 along with lines of 
Schaper's readout to A/S Jones.  PM Balkenende told Putin 
that Ukraine's CEC announcement did not reflect the will of 
the people and the EU cannot accept the outcome.  Putin 
disagreed, saying it was not up to outsiders to validate the 
results.  Putin argued for a solution within the 
constitutional framework of Ukraine, using dialogue and 
consultation. 
 
3.  (C)  Balkenende argued for a political solution to the 
crisis, also urging consultation and dialogue among the 
parties.  Putin rejected a political approach, saying that 
the laws of Ukraine cannot be replaced by a political 
process.  He reportedly acknowledged that "mistakes were 
made" but these did not invalidate the results, according to 
the CIS report he cited. 
 
4.  (U) Balkenende, Barosso and Solana held a joint press 
conference with Putin after the Summit, where they first 
spelled out the progress on the "four Common Spaces," the 
most concrete being the expansion of the Agreement on 
Partnership and Cooperation (PCA) with new EU Member States, 
the beginning of the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, 
agreement on intensified trade and mutual investment, 
fighting terrorism, and the establishment of a European 
Training institute in Moscow.  On Ukraine, Putin took 
exception to Balkenende's insistence that the EU could not 
accept the outcome of elections and had a right to "confirm 
that the rules of democracy are working properly."   Putin 
said that the EU did not have right to "interfere from the 
outside" with Ukraine's electoral process. 
 
5.  (C)  MFA Ukraine/Belarus Desk Off Daniel Melchers told 
the Acting Polcouns November 26 that Dutch Envoy Biegman is 
returning from Kiev, where he had gone bearing letters for 
Kuchma, Yanukovych, Rada President Lytvyn and the Head of the 
Constitutional Court requesting all not to publish final 
elections results -- this was done anyway.  Melchers noted 
the decision of the Supreme Court to review Yusckhenko's 
appeal, but said the Netherlands expects the court will 
change nothing.  Characterizing Russia's reaction as 
defensive, he observed "they lost the Baltics and Georgia, 
they don't want to lose Ukraine." 
SOBEL