US embassy cable - 05WARSAW3111

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 003111 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/12/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PL, Poland-Russia 
SUBJECT: NEW TENSIONS IN POLISH-RUSSIAN RELATIONS WITH 
BEATINGS OF POLISH EMBASSY STAFF AND REPORTER IN MOSCOW 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin for reasons 1.5 (B) and 
(D) 
 
1.  (U)  The Polish government has expressed concern and 
Polish politicians and media outrage over the past week's 
beatings in Moscow of three members of the staff of the 
Polish Embassy (one Russian employee, one Polish technical 
staff member, and one Polish diplomat) and one journalist for 
the Polish daily Rzeczpospolita.  The first beating was taken 
as something of a reprisal for the mugging of three children 
of a Russian diplomat in Warsaw in late July.  However, the 
media are beginning to view the almost daily events as a 
deliberate message, if not from Putin, then from rogue 
elements within the Russian government, to Poland about its 
role in promoting democracy in Belarus. 
 
2.  (C)  Polcouns met August 10 with Gabriel Beslej, Prime 
Minister Belka's Director for International Affairs, just 
after an emergency meeting Belka called after the third 
beating of a Polish Embassy employee, which occurred that day 
at 1:00 pm outside the Embassy in Moscow.  Beslej said that 
Belka had instructed the acting Minister of Foreign Affairs 
to call in the Russian Charge to protest, with a parallel 
protest to be delivered in Moscow.  Beslej was restrained in 
assigning blame for the incident, but noted that the first 
attack had raised eyebrows, while three in a row could not be 
simply coincidence.  The Prime Minister will hold a meeting 
August 16 with MFA and opposition party officials to discuss 
the general problem of rising tensions with Russia. 
 
3.  (U)  President Kwasniewski had clearly attempted to stay 
out of the matter until the fourth incident (the August 11 
journalist beating), when pressure from opposition and media 
criticism made that impossible.  He issued a statement 
calling upon President Putin to investigate the attacks and 
punish the perpetrators, and regretting the tension in 
relations caused by the attacks.  In response, Russia's 
deputy foreign minister issued a statement August 12 
expressing regret over the attacks, and hope that the 
incidents would not harm relations between Russia and Poland. 
 
 
4.  (U)  Opposition politicians, who have long called for a 
stronger policy toward Russia, criticized the President for 
failing to make any statement until today.  Bronislaw 
Komorowski of the centrist Civic Platform (PO), a leading 
candidate to repeat as Defense Minister in the next 
government, criticized Kwasniewski in an August 12 radio 
interview for what he called two years of "soft" responses to 
Russian provocation. 
 
5.  (C)  Comment:  The government clearly has sought to avoid 
directly blaming the Russian government for the beatings, and 
will almost certainly do what it can not to let the issue 
further damage relations.  Kwasniewski has consistently 
followed a policy of seeking good relations with Russia, but 
has matched that with firmness in pursuing such issues as 
democracy in Ukraine and Belarus.  The media and the 
opposition are less restrained, however, in arguing there 
must be a clear Russian government hand in the events, 
intended to send a message to Poland to stop its 
democracy-promotion activities in Belarus.  They have also 
made much of Putin's accusatory statements in the wake of the 
July mugging of three Russian Embassy dependents.  We hope to 
get the Prime Minister's and President's perspectives during 
next week's meetings with an upcoming CODEL. 
Piascik