This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KIEV 000659 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/17/2016 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: UPDATE ON REFOULEMENT OF UZBEKS 
 
REF: A. HULTMAN-GWALTNEY 2/16 E-MAIL 
     ¶B. KIEV 558 
     ¶C. 05 KIEV 4971 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Sheila Gwaltney for reasons 1.4 
(b) and (d). 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) On February 17, Ambassador passed Foreign Minister 
Tarasyuk a non-paper on Ukraine's February 14 refoulement of 
a group of Uzbek asylum seekers.  Tarasyuk said that he 
became aware of incident through media reports and had asked 
for an explanation from the Ukrainian law enforcement 
community; he pledged that MFA would respond to our concerns. 
 Separately, UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative Isabelle 
Mihoubi told us that she and Regional Representative Simone 
Wolken had met on the morning of February 17 with a group of 
Uzbek community leaders and asylum seekers.  The group 
blasted UNHCR for being "useless" and asserted that only 10 
of the 11 Uzbeks detained in Simferopol had been deported to 
Uzbekistan; the 11th man was missing, they asserted, and may 
have been badly beaten or possibly killed by Uzbek security 
force agents -- allegations Mihoubi could not confirm. 
Mihoubi related that she and Wolken had also met on February 
17 with the Chairman of the Rada's Human Rights Committee, 
former Foreign Minister Udovenko; he blamed "the local 
authorities" in notoriously anti-Yushchenko Simferopol for 
illegally deporting the Uzbeks in a bid to embarrass the 
president.  After "making some calls," Udovenko also claimed 
that the deported Uzbeks might have been "terrorists." 
Following the meeting with Udovenko, Mihoubi said that she 
and Wolken had a "very short" private discussion with the 
Chairman of the State Committee for Nationalities and 
Migration, Serhiy Rudyk.  According to Mihoubi, Rudyk was 
"extremely honest," acknowledging that the Uzbeks had been 
refouled in violation of Ukrainian law.  He said he was 
headed for Simferopol to look into the incident, which he 
characterized as a matter handled exclusively by the 
"security forces" of Ukraine and Uzbekistan.  End summary. 
 
FM Tarasyuk On Refoulement 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) At the end of a February 17 meeting between Foreign 
Minister Tarasyuk and visiting Commerce Department Deputy 
Secretary David Sampson, Ambassador passed Tarasyuk ref A 
 
SIPDIS 
non-paper on Ukraine's February 14 refoulement of a group of 
Uzbek asylum seekers.  Tarasyuk said that he had first heard 
about the incident via media reports, and had asked the 
Ukrainian law enforcement community for an explanation. 
Tarasyuk asserted that he had also urged his law enforcement 
colleagues to "think about the foreign policy implications" 
of their actions and to consult with MFA about sensitive 
cases like that of controversial Russian political scientist 
Kirill Frolov, who was unceremoniously deported from 
Simferopol on January 27.  Tarasyuk told Ambassador that MFA 
would provide a response to our concerns. 
 
UNHCR Kiev: Blasted By Uzbek Community... 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kiev-based UNHCR Deputy Regional Representative 
Isabelle Mihoubi told us late February 17 that she and 
Regional Representative Simone Wolken had met for more than 
two hours on the morning of the 17th at the Kiev office of 
the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (ref B) with a group of 15 
Uzbek community leaders and asylum seekers.  The group 
blasted UNHCR for being "useless" and asserted that only 10 
of the 11 Uzbeks detained in Simferopol had actually been 
deported on February 14; an 11th man was allegedly missing. 
The group further claimed that the "missing man" may have 
been badly beaten, or even killed, by Uzbek security force 
agents who, according to Ukrainian press reports, were 
present at the detention center where the men were held prior 
to their deportation.  Mihoubi noted that UNHCR did not know 
where the 11th Uzbek detainee was, and added that she and her 
colleagues were trying to find out.  (Note: A Human Rights 
Watch February 17 press release indicated that the 11th man 
was not deported because he had relatives in Ukraine.  End 
note.) 
 
...Spun By An MP... 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mihoubi said that she and Wolken had met on the 
afternoon of February 17 with the Chairman of the Rada 
Committee on Human Rights, National Minorities and 
Inter-Ethnic Relations, former Foreign Minister Henadiy 
Udovenko.  They asked Udovenko for his help in persuading the 
Ukrainian government to engage with UNHCR on the issue; thus 
far, the government had only authorized a low-level official 
at the State Committee on Nationalities and Migration (SCNM) 
to inform UNHCR that the Uzbeks had been "deported in 
accordance with Ukrainian law." 
 
¶5. (SBU) The M.P., noting that he had "made some calls," 
attempted to shift the blame from the national to the Crimean 
government.  Udovenko asserted that "local authorities" in 
vociferously pro-Russia, anti-Yushchenko Simferopol had 
deported the Uzbeks in order to embarrass the Yushchenko 
administration.  He added, though, that the Uzbeks were 
deported by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which had 
suggested that the Uzbeks "might be terrorists."  Udovenko 
pledged that there would be a parliamentary inquiry into the 
incident. 
 
...And Stunned By Rudyk 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Following the meeting with Udovenko, Mihoubi said that 
she and Wolken had a "very short" private conversation with 
SCNM Chairman Serhiy Rudyk in his office.  Characterizing 
Rudyk as "extremely honest" (ref C), Mihoubi asserted that 
the Chairman had said that UNHCR was right: the Uzbeks had 
been refouled in violation of Ukrainian law.  Specifically, 
he explained that the men had not been given an opportunity 
to appeal their court-ordered deportation; he dismissed as 
"nonsense" reports that the Uzbeks had voluntarily waived 
their right to an appeal.  Rudyk told UNHCR that he was 
departing for Simferopol to personally look into what 
happened.  He emphasized that the SCNM had not been involved 
in the incident, describing it as a matter handled 
exclusively by the "security forces" of Ukraine and 
Uzbekistan. 
HERBST