Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08STOCKHOLM562
2008-08-12 08:03:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Stockholm
Cable title:  

Media Reaction - Russia

Tags:  OPRC KMDR KPAO PINS PHUM PREF EUN SW 
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VZCZCXYZ0012
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSM #0562 2250803
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 120803Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY STOCKHOLM
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3671
UNCLAS STOCKHOLM 000562

SIPDIS

SECSTATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PPD, EUR/NB, EUR/PA, EUR/FO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO PINS PHUM PREF EUN SW
SUBJECT: Media Reaction - Russia


I. On August 12 independent liberal Stockholm morning daily "Dagens
Nyheter" editorialized on "Back in the USSR" stating that,

"The Russian bombings of the Georgian capital Tbilisi and Gori in
central Georgia seem to indicate that the Kremlin's ambitions extend
beyond the separatist regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia. It is
becoming more and more evident that Russian ambitions may be to
dethrone the Georgian President, the young U.S.-educated lawyer
Mikhail Sakhasvili....

"The new Czarist Empire does not hesitate to use military force to
put pressure on former Soviet republics that are friendly to the
West. But the mightiest weapon for the Kremlin is not tanks but
rather the dependence on oil...That is one of the main reasons why
the EU is tiptoeing around Russia....

"'The Russian action towards former Soviet republics will be a
litmus test of what path Russia will take,' is a statement in a
report by the Swedish Parliamentary Defense Committee. Now it seems
that Georgia has become the litmus test the world has been waiting
for."

II. On August 12 the conservative Stockholm morning daily "Svenska
Dagbladet" in an editorial headlined "History Has Not Ended," said:

"Despite the last decades arms reductions here (in Sweden) eternal
peace has not materialized in our immediate surroundings....

"The war in Georgia contains all the elements, which the realists
have warned of. Russia - a country that cannot tolerate that a
neighboring country has ambitions to get closer to the West. A state
in disintegration where the leadership take panicky actions. Oil-
and gas pipelines that have a potential for energy political
blackmail. And, not least, an incredibly short distance from going
from argument to war....

"Now international negotiating delegations pour into the war zone.
This is important, not least to restore a minimum of stability (in
the region),but also to secure Georgia's place in the Western
world."

III. On August 12, South Sweden's major liberal daily, Malmo-based
"Sydsvenskan" opined,

"Georgia can hardly be described as a democratic model state and
perhaps there were underrated risks involved in the actions last
week against the Ossetia separatists. But Russia's readiness to
quickly resort to the use of military force and its obvious
intention to push it too far, is to the international community the
most concerning and alarming aspect....

"And one cannot dismiss the idea that crossed one's mind. That
Russian President Dmitrij Medvedev and, in particular, Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin by the (Russian) aggression against Georgia
have demonstrated a new and more brutal definition of Russia's
'sphere of interest.' This can also be observed in the rhetoric."
SILVERMAN