US embassy cable - 05WARSAW3387

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 003387 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, PGOV, BO, UP, PL, Poland-Belarus 
SUBJECT: POLAND WEIGHS UKRAINIAN ROLE IN ADDRESSING 
RELATIONS WITH BELARUS 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin, 1.4b,d 
 
1. (C) Polish officials confirmed to us September 16 that 
they are likely to respond positively to a Ukrainian proposal 
to host a meeting at the NSA-equivalent level between Poland 
and Belarus.  Slawomir Kaminski, a deputy director in Polish 
National Security Adviser Jerzy Bahr's office, explained that 
Ukrainian DFM Dolgov had made the offer during his September 
14 meeting with Bahr, following up on recent discussions 
between Presidents Kwasniewski and Yushchenko concerning a 
possible "mediating" role for Ukraine. 
 
2. (C) Kaminski said that Dolgov had presented a draft paper 
with some ideas for promoting democracy and civil society in 
Belarus, "eighty percent" of which was acceptable to the 
Poles.  "Absolutely unacceptable" for the Polish government, 
Kaminski stressed, were recommendations in the draft for 
meetings at the presidential and foreign ministerial level (a 
position reaffirmed by Polish MFA officials as well). 
Nevertheless, Kaminski suggested that the Poles saw some 
value in the proposed meeting of Bahr and his Belarusian 
counterpart Neviglas, to be hosted by Ukrainian FM Tarasyuk 
September 29 in Kiev, if only to begin talking.  Kaminski 
noted that Bahr was considered an appropriate interlocutor 
given regular cross-border consultations that take place 
among NSA equivalents in the region, including the 
Belarusians. 
 
3. (C) We encouraged Kaminski and his MFA colleagues to 
maintain close coordination with us and our European partners 
to ensure that we deliver consistent messages to the 
Belarusian regime, which Kaminski assured was taken as a 
given.  He noted that discussions that day among neighboring 
governments (representatives of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and 
Ukraine), organized by Polish PM Belka, were part of 
precisely such an effort, which will of course include 
consultations with all partners.  Both Kaminski and the MFA's 
European Department indicated that the Poles would very much 
welcome hearing any specific suggestions from us on Belarus 
policy, noting that the planned September 19 coordination 
meeting at the State Department might be one early 
opportunity to do so. 
Ashe