Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07MOSCOW1478
2007-04-03 16:16:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:
UKRAINIAN CRISIS: INITIAL REACTIONS FROM MOSCOW
how-toVZCZCXRO3261 OO RUEHDBU DE RUEHMO #1478 0931616 ZNY CCCCC ZZH O 031616Z APR 07 FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8899 INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 001478
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV UP RS
SUBJECT: UKRAINIAN CRISIS: INITIAL REACTIONS FROM MOSCOW
Classified By: DCM Daniel A. Russell. Reasons 1.4 (B/D).
C O N F I D E N T I A L MOSCOW 001478
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV UP RS
SUBJECT: UKRAINIAN CRISIS: INITIAL REACTIONS FROM MOSCOW
Classified By: DCM Daniel A. Russell. Reasons 1.4 (B/D).
1. (C) In the wake of President Yushchenko's decision to
disband the Rada, the GOR issued a statement early April 3
urging Ukrainian political forces to demonstrate wisdom and
responsibility, and to act within the law. State Duma
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachev termed
Yushchenko's decree "a mistake," saying there were no
constitutional grounds for such an action. Viktor Sorokin,
Director of the MFA's Third CIS Department (Ukraine, Belarus
and Moldova),told us that Russia believes that Ukrainian
political forces must compromise and that the number one
priority should be stability. He viewed the current crisis
as a continuation of the 2004 "schism." Sorokin noted that
the crisis had caused Yushchenko to cancel his expected April
3 visit to Moscow, where the two presidents had planned to
sign a Russia-Ukraine roadmap for the next two years.
2. (C) Sorokin observed that the Orange Revolution's real
achievements (freedoms of press and assembly) had been
upstaged by its leaders' struggle for power. He added that
the best solution would be for Yushchenko to retract the
decree -- and seek a workable compromise. Sorokin warned
that a country undergoing "eternal" elections "cannot hope to
accomplish much." Russia does not need an unstable Ukraine,
he underlined.
3. (C) Ukrainian Embassy Political Counselor Myroslava
Shcherbatyuk commented to us April 3 that Yushchenko lacked a
legitimate legal basis for dissolving the Rada.
Shcherbatyuk feared that Yushchenko's decision had thoroughly
discredited him in Russian eyes. A tearful Shcherbatyuk told
us that she and her colleagues worry most about the widening
split between the country's East and West. She had been at
the Maidan when the people of Ukraine gave the country to
Yushchenko and now "we have only ourselves to blame."
BURNS
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/03/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV UP RS
SUBJECT: UKRAINIAN CRISIS: INITIAL REACTIONS FROM MOSCOW
Classified By: DCM Daniel A. Russell. Reasons 1.4 (B/D).
1. (C) In the wake of President Yushchenko's decision to
disband the Rada, the GOR issued a statement early April 3
urging Ukrainian political forces to demonstrate wisdom and
responsibility, and to act within the law. State Duma
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Konstantin Kosachev termed
Yushchenko's decree "a mistake," saying there were no
constitutional grounds for such an action. Viktor Sorokin,
Director of the MFA's Third CIS Department (Ukraine, Belarus
and Moldova),told us that Russia believes that Ukrainian
political forces must compromise and that the number one
priority should be stability. He viewed the current crisis
as a continuation of the 2004 "schism." Sorokin noted that
the crisis had caused Yushchenko to cancel his expected April
3 visit to Moscow, where the two presidents had planned to
sign a Russia-Ukraine roadmap for the next two years.
2. (C) Sorokin observed that the Orange Revolution's real
achievements (freedoms of press and assembly) had been
upstaged by its leaders' struggle for power. He added that
the best solution would be for Yushchenko to retract the
decree -- and seek a workable compromise. Sorokin warned
that a country undergoing "eternal" elections "cannot hope to
accomplish much." Russia does not need an unstable Ukraine,
he underlined.
3. (C) Ukrainian Embassy Political Counselor Myroslava
Shcherbatyuk commented to us April 3 that Yushchenko lacked a
legitimate legal basis for dissolving the Rada.
Shcherbatyuk feared that Yushchenko's decision had thoroughly
discredited him in Russian eyes. A tearful Shcherbatyuk told
us that she and her colleagues worry most about the widening
split between the country's East and West. She had been at
the Maidan when the people of Ukraine gave the country to
Yushchenko and now "we have only ourselves to blame."
BURNS