Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08MOSCOW3719
2008-12-22 12:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Moscow
Cable title:  

GOR CALM ABOUT U.S.-UKRAINE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP

Tags:  PREL PGOV ECON UP RS GG 
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VZCZCXRO2405
PP RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHNP RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHMO #3719/01 3571259
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221259Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1311
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHXD/MOSCOW POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 003719 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON UP RS GG
SUBJECT: GOR CALM ABOUT U.S.-UKRAINE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
PLANS

Classified By: Pol MinCouns Alice Wells for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 003719

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/22/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON UP RS GG
SUBJECT: GOR CALM ABOUT U.S.-UKRAINE STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP
PLANS

Classified By: Pol MinCouns Alice Wells for reasons 1.4(b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary: In a December 22 meeting, MFA Ukraine desk
Director Vyacheslav Yelagin told us that the GOR had not yet
developed a formal position on the proposed U.S.-Ukraine
strategic partnership agreement, but noted Ukraine had the
right to conclude treaties with any country it wanted to. He
said Russia's threat to shut off gas supplies to Ukraine was
real and directly linked to Ukraine's paying off its gas
payment debts; Russia would not subsidize Ukraine's support
for Georgia. Yelagin described DFM Karasin's December 15
visit to Kyiv as a routine exchange of views on key bilateral
issues that did not produce any significant results. End
Summary.

-------------- ---
U.S.-Georgia Partnership: No formal GOR reaction
-------------- ---


2. (C) In a December 22 meeting, Vyacheslav Yelagin,
Director of the Ukraine desk in the 2nd CIS Department at the
MFA told us that the GOR had not yet developed a formal
position on the proposed U.S.-Ukraine strategic partnership
agreement. As the MFA had just learned about the plans that
morning, it needed more time to study the issue, and would
have to run any statement by the 2nd CIS Department director,
who was currently tied up in Belarusian president
Lukashenko's visit to Moscow. However, Yelagin voiced his
informal opinion that Ukraine was a sovereign country with
the right to conclude treaties with any country it wanted to.
He stressed that Russia's policy overall was not to
interfere in Ukraine's internal or non-Russia-related affairs.

--------------
Gas cutoff a real possibility
--------------


3. (C) While the MFA is not the lead player in
Russian-Ukraine energy relations, Yelagin said Russia's
threat to shut off gas supplies to Ukraine was real, and
directly linked to Ukraine's paying off its gas payment
debts. Russia had been raising the debt repayment on a
weekly basis since at least last summer, so was not reacting
precipitately now. Yelagin disagreed that Russia's threat
might just be a "negotiating ploy" meant to pressure Ukraine

into accepting less favorable terms for the new contract, as
negotiations had collapsed and there were none ongoing at the
time. Yelagin also rejected our concern about European
reactions to a cutoff, saying Russia had spoken extensively
with its Western European gas customers, who he claimed
understood Russia's position that the looming gas crisis was
entirely Ukraine's making, and that deliveries to Europe and
deliveries to Ukraine were separate issues. Yelagin
suggested Ukraine could use IMF loans to repay the debt, then
joked that the U.S. as Ukraine's ally could also pay off the
debt. In the end, Yelagin linked the gas price issue to
Georgia, saying Russia was not willing to subsidize a country
which conducted anti-Russian politics with regard to Georgia.

-------------- --------------
Karasin exchanges views with Ukrainian counterpart
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Yelagin characterized DFM Karasin's December 15 visit
to Kyiv as a routine visit intended to allow both sides to
exchange views on issues of mutual concern, with the talks
producing no significant result. Yelagin queried the wisdom
of Ukrainian president Yushchenko's December 2 decree to
found an interdepartmental strategic group for
Ukrainian-Russian relations, noting a Russian-Ukrainian
commission with attached working groups that covered the same
issues as the new strategic group existed since 2005.


5. (C) On military issues, Yelagin reported that Karasin
raised with Ukrainian Acting First Deputy Foreign Minister
Yuri Kostenko Russian accusations that Ukrainian arms
deliveries to Georgia contradicted international obligations,
and the alleged provision of Ukrainian military specialists
to assist Georgia. The parties also discussed Ukrainian
attempts to "hamper" Black Sea Fleet (BSF) movements, which
Yelagin described as covered by the existing BSF agreement,
and would be further discussed in a meeting of the
sub-commission on the Black Sea Fleet in early 2009.


6. (C) Yelagin also reported that Karasin and Kostenko
discussed non-military issues, including agreement to hold
consultations on the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait
settlement in January 2009. While Ukraine claimed its
territorial integrity in the Azov Sea was threatened by
Russia, Yelagin affirmed Russia had no plans "to invade

MOSCOW 00003719 002 OF 002


Ukraine," and further considered Ukraine's territorial
integrity already well-protected under such agreements as the
Big Treaty and the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. Karasin and
Kostenko further discussed the Holodomor, restrictions on
Russian cable TV in Ukraine and other cultural issues such as
the joint celebration of the 200th anniversary of author
Nikolai Gogol.
RUBIN