US embassy cable - 05WARSAW3613

C O N F I D E N T I A L WARSAW 003613 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/17/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, BO, PL, Poland-Belarus 
SUBJECT: POLAND: U.S. POLICY TOWARD BELARUS 
 
REF: A. STATE 188900 
 
     B. WARSAW 3520 
     C. VILNIUS 1076 
 
Classified By: Political Counselor Mary Curtin, reasons 1.4b,d 
 
1. (C) We shared reftel (A) demarche points with Polish MFA 
officials October 12 and 13, highlighting the results of our 
policy review and our determination to coordinate closely 
with partners in support of Belarusian democracy.  Polish 
officials indicated that Poland shares the broad outlines of 
U.S. policy and welcomes our robust approach, which includes 
action on a number of fronts.  The Poles evinced interest in 
our thinking on a possible message to Lukashenko, which we 
emphasized would be exceptional and well-coordinated in 
advance. 
 
2. (C) Asked about Poland's decision to return its ambassador 
to Minsk that week, MFA Deputy Director for Eastern Europe 
(DAS equivalent) Wojciech Zajaczkowski confirmed that the 
Poles had been looking for a reason to send Ambassador Pawlak 
back to Belarus, and that the Lukashenko regime's willingness 
to host the opposition candidate selection provided them with 
that excuse.  "Recalling the ambassador sent an important 
signal," Zajaczkowski stated, "but over time it became clear 
that his absence was hurting us more than the regime." 
Zajaczkowski noted also that Belarusian state security chief 
Neviglas appears to have kept a promise to Polish NSA Bahr 
(ref B) and reined in the KGB a bit (although anti-Polish 
attacks continue to appear in state-run Belarusian media, he 
said). 
 
3. (C) Zajaczkowski and MFA Belarus desk officer Mariusz 
Krajewski inquired about our reaction to Belarusian PM 
Sidorski's recent meetings in Vilnius, which both 
characterized as "surprising." Drawing on our earlier read of 
ref (C), we reported that we and the UK (as EU presidency) 
had demarched the Lithuanians and underscored our concern 
about this breach of common policy.  We explained that the 
episode reinforces the importance of maintaining a closely 
coordinated and unified approach to such contacts. 
 
4. (C) On the external broadcasting project, Zajaczkowski 
welcomed news of our decision to provide some initial funding 
to ERB (European Radio for Belarus), intimating that our 
support could help tip the Polish government's tender and its 
$300,000 in support toward ERB.  Informed of the Czech 
government's intention to fund ERB as well, Zajaczkowski 
indicated that the Poles would approach the remaining 
Visegrad Group member states for similar pledges the 
following week.  Zajaczkowski stated that he regretted the 
technical delays created by the tender process, but assured 
us that he remains confident that the new Polish government 
(due to enter office by the end of October) will back the 
radio project "enthusiastically." 
ASHE