TURKMENISTAN: BERDIMUHAMEDOV FOLLOWS HIS OWN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000748

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EUR/RUS, EUR/UMB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV PREL EINV KCIS RS UP TX
SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: BERDIMUHAMEDOV FOLLOWS HIS OWN
PATH AT THE PETERSBURG CIS SUMMIT

REF: A. ASHGABAT 0173

B. ASHGABAT 0300

C. ASHGABAT 0525

Classified By: CDA RICHARD E. HOAGLAND: 1.4 (B),(D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: At the June 6 CIS Summit in St.
Petersburg, President Berdimuhamedov reaffirmed
Turkmenistan's neutrality and held bilateral meetings. While
expressing support for the relatively new goal of expanding
economic ties among the CIS states, he again reminded
attendees and observers Turkmenistan remains on the sidelines
of the organization and loyal to its neutral status. During
the event, he held substantive meetings with Russian
President Medvedev and Ukrainian President Yushchenko. While
there has been no readout of his meeting with Medvedev, his
meeting with Yushchenko was an intense effort to solve the
two countries' dispute over the disastrous Ashgabat tunnel
construction project. This dispute continues to be at the
center of the poor bilateral relationship, but the Turkmen
seem to be as intent as the Ukrainians on resolving it once
and for all. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov attended the
June 6 CIS "informal summit" in St. Petersburg, and
reaffirmed Turkmenistan's status as an "associate member"
that participates in such fora while keeping its permanent
neutrality intact. In a public statement during the meeting,
he said one of Turkmenistan's key foreign policy priorities
was to strengthen its bilateral relationships, both within
the CIS and outside of it. Russian press was rosy and
positive, reporting that the summit's primary focus was to
deepen and expand economic collaboration among the CIS
states, and to increase cooperation on the development of a
regional transportation network.


3. (C) The only sign of a Turkmen commitment to the forum
appears to have been Berdimuhamedov's offer to host a CIS
Agricultural Producers' Forum and a related agricultural
exhibition in Ashgabat in 2009, but the proposal more likely
was an effort to put Ashgabat in the spotlight once again as
an attractive venue for a large multinational meeting. After
arriving in St. Petersburg, Berdimuhamedov attended to his
bilateral priorities, and met with Russian President Medvedev
and later with Ukrainian President Yushchenko.


4. (C) Press coverage of Medvedev's meeting with
Berdimuhamedov was positive and non-specific, although
Russian concern regarding the recent visit of several
high-ranking U.S. delegations to Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan
was manifested when Medvedev announced during the summit that
he would visit both countries in early July. In Ashgabat, he
said, he wanted to discuss "enhancing and intensifying the
traditional partnership."


5. (C) According to Ukrainian Embassy political secretary
Igor Roman, his government had urgently requested a bilateral
presidential meeting during the CIS summit. President
Berdimuhamedov agreed to meet with President Yushchenko at
the Ukrainian Consul General's residence. The conversation
was "sharp," and centered primarily on the continuing dispute
between the Ukrainian construction company Interbudmontazh
and Turkmenistan's government over the abandoned,
financially-quagmired and water-logged Ashgabat tunnel
project (refs A and C).


6. (C) Berdimuhammedov told Yushchenko that the two
countries' troubled bilateral relations would not improve
until Ukraine proposed an acceptable way to get the project
back on track. Turkmenistan's president said that the entire
relationship is in jeopardy because of Interbudmontazh's poor
performance in Turkmenistan, but he does not want the

ASHGABAT 00000748 002 OF 002


relationship to worsen. Roman said the Ukrainian president
agreed that resolution of the dispute should be a top
priority. Yushchenko and Berdimuhammedov eventually agreed
on a short timeline of events to get the ball rolling.


7. (C) The Ukrainian government's envoy on this issue,
Ukrainian industrial magnate Sergey Taruta, will return to
Turkmenistan the week of June 9 and meet with Turkmen
officials to try to resolve the most difficult issues (ref
B). He may propose that an alternate company complete the
construction. When and if serious problems are resolved, the
Ukraine-Turkmenistan Intergovernmental Economic Commission
will meet soon thereafter to work out remaining technical
issues. As a final step, Yushchenko proposed that
Berdimuhamedov make an official visit to Kyiv in the coming
months, and documents, including possibly a new project
contract, would be signed.


8. (C) Turkmenistan's Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign
Minister Rashid Meredov made a point of asking the Ukrainian
side not to release any of the negative or substantive
details of this tense meeting to the Ukrainian media.
Instead, he requested that the meeting be described briefly
and in simple terms as positive and constructive. Yushchenko
agreed, and press reports on the meeting were muted. The
Ukrainian president's invitation for Berdimuhamedov to visit
Kyiv was the only significant detail made public.


9. (C) COMMENT: Berdimuhamedov continued to walk a careful
line at the summit, staying clear of multilateral
entanglements while also confirming Turkmenistan's commitment
to the bilateral relationships it values. While he showed
willingness to participate in the forum and confirmed Russia
as an important partner, his own agenda and priorities were
made clear.


10. (C) COMMENT CONTINUED: In spite of its clear
frustration with finding a solution to this business dispute,
Turkmenistan's government still appears to want the project
completed, and wants to normalize its relationship with
Ukraine. There is little doubt that the project will cost
much more to complete than originally anticipated, given the
ever-rising cost of construction in Turkmenistan; but if
Berdimuhamedov refuses to sign a new contract, the tunnel,
and the relationship with Ukraine, will remain a big, deep
hole filled with murky water. END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND