Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05YEREVAN53
2005-01-13 12:41:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

KOCHARIAN SENDS CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW UKRAINIAN

Tags:  PGOV PHUM AM 
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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 YEREVAN 000053 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, EUR/ACE, INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM AM
SUBJECT: KOCHARIAN SENDS CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW UKRAINIAN
PRESIDENT -- AGAIN


Classified By: DCM A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

-------
SUMMARY
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000053

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, EUR/ACE, INR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/12/2015
TAGS: PGOV PHUM AM
SUBJECT: KOCHARIAN SENDS CONGRATULATIONS TO NEW UKRAINIAN
PRESIDENT -- AGAIN


Classified By: DCM A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) The GOAM announced January 11 that President Robert
Kocharian sent a congratulatory message to Ukrainian
President-elect Viktor Yushchenko. The news sparked a flurry
of media reports about Armenia-Ukraine-Russia relations and
re-ignited discussion on the applicability of recent events
in Ukraine and Georgia in the current Armenian political
theater. The congratulatory letter was reportedly almost
identical to the message Kocharian had sent to Ukrainian
Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich following the November 21
round of voting. Reports were quick to remind that the GOAM
was the only Council of Europe country, other than Russia, to
have recognized Yanukovich as the victor in the November 2004
election. GOAM officials once again defended Kocharian on
his handling of the issue, saying the decision to recognize
Yanukovich relied on cues of Ukraine's Central Election
Commission and denied that the move was simply an attempt to
please Moscow by supporting the pro-Russia candidate. End
summary.

--------------
SAME LETTER, DIFFERENT ADDRESSEE
--------------


2. (U) The GOAM announced January 11 that President Robert
Kocharian sent a congratulatory message to Ukrainian
President-elect Viktor Yushchenko. The text of the letter
included standard language and a call for strengthening of
relations between the two countries. Most of the Armenia's
press smirkingly noted that the congratulatory letter was
almost identical to the message Kocharian had sent to
Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich following the
November 21 round of voting.

-------------- ---
KOCHARIAN - HEEDING THE CEC OR CUES FROM MOSCOW?
-------------- ---


3. (C) News reports seized on the latest Kocharian letter as
an opportunity to remind the public that the GOAM was the
only Council of Europe country, other than Russia, to have
recognized Yanukovich as the victor of the November 2004
election. Opposition newspapers again suggested that
Kocharian's decision to recognize Yushchenko was a move to
please official Moscow by quickly supporting the pro-Russia
candidate. GOAM officials once again defended Kocharian,
however, saying his November decision was based on
information received from Ukraine's Central Election
Commission and not a political move. (Note: GOAM insiders
told us that Kocharian's rush to congratulate Yanukovich was
prompted by an urgent personal appeal from Russia's former
Prime Minister and Ambassador in Kiev, Viktor Chernomyrdin.
End Note.)

--------------
COMMENT: YEREVAN IS STILL NO KIEV
--------------


4. (C) The news of Kocharian's congratulations of Yushchenko
sparked a flurry of media reports about
Armenia-Ukraine-Russia relations and re-ignited discussion on
the applicability of recent events in Ukraine and Georgia in
the current Armenian political theater. Local commentators
(and some media outlets abroad) are quick to draw parallels
between recent events in Ukraine and Georgia and the
political environment in Armenia. But Yerevan is neither
Tbilisi nor Kiev, and drastic political change is unlikely in
the near future. While Armenian opposition leaders like to
think that the public is still outraged over electoral fraud
during Armenia's 2003 presidential and parliamentary
elections, the mood is nowhere near as electric as it was
immediately following the election or during the much-touted
"Hot Spring" rallies of April 2004. The key difference
remains the absence of a single opposition leader with enough
charisma, popular support or an easy-to-understand agenda to
unite party leaders in opposing the current government.
EVANS