KAZAKHSTAN: ISRAELI AMBASSADOR EXPLAINS MILITARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L ASTANA 001465

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, NEA, EEB

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/03/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL ETRD EPET EAGR MASS KCOR IS SA KZ
SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: ISRAELI AMBASSADOR EXPLAINS MILITARY
SALES SCANDAL, PRAISES SENATOR MITCHELL

REF: ASTANA 1179

Classified By: Ambassador Richard E. Hoagland: 1.4 (B),(D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: Israeli Ambassador to Kazakhstan Israel
Mei-Ami told the Ambassador on September 2:

-- Kazakhstan is a major oil supplier for Israel;

-- this year's military procurement scandal has left
lingering headaches for him;

-- despite the scandal, Israel-Kazakhstan relations are the
best they've ever been;

-- Israel has not automatically ruled out the suggestion that
President Peres and SAUDI King Abdullah meet in Astana; and

-- he believes that "Senator Mitchell and U.S. leadership can
influence Israeli society for the better." END SUMMARY.

KAZAKHSTAN A MAJOR OIL SUPPLIER FOR ISRAEL


2. (C) During a one-on-one lunch on September 2, Israeli
Ambassador Israel Mei-Ami told the Ambassador the
Israel-Kazakhstan relationship is of special importance to
Tel Aviv because Israel annually imports $2.5 billion worth
of oil from Kazakhstan via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
He said that because Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan are the
biggest suppliers of oil to Israel, Caspian security is of
keen interest. He noted that in 1998, Israel conducted for
Kazakhstan's Ministry of Defense a strategic assessment of
how to protect Kazakhstan's Caspian coast. He commented, "It
probably went straight to the archive and hasn't been seen
since."

THE MILITARY SALES SCANDAL


3. (C) According to Mei-Ami, President Shimon Peres' visit
to Astana at the beginning of July was specifically to repair
the damage done to the bilateral relationship by the scandal
that developed after the Kazakhstani Ministry of Defense
procured Israeli weapons that the media reported were
substandard. (NOTE: The scandal led to the sacking of
Minister of Defense Danial Akhmetov and the arrest of a
deputy minister. END NOTE.) Mei-Ami clarified that the arms
deal had been purely commercial and that the Government of
Israel had not been involved. He said that, in fact, the
weapons had not been substandard -- the problem was that they
were "technologically incompatible" with the old Soviet-era
platforms (trucks and BTRs) on which they were to have been
mounted.


4. (C) When asked if corruption had played a role in the
scandal, Mei-Ami responded, "In any deal, there are usually
agents who must 'overcome difficulties.' We didn't invent
it. Everyone does it. But I'm not officially confirming
there was corruption." He added that the lingering effect of
the scandal is still his biggest headache. The "go between"
for the deal, retired Kazakhstani Colonel Boris Shaykman, now
an Israeli citizen, was arrested in Kazakhstan during the
investigation and is currently imprisoned awaiting trial.
The initial charge against him was "irregularities" in his
$400/month Kazakhstani military pension, but now bribery
charges have been added. Mei-Ami said he expects a guilty
verdict and prison sentence. "Then Peres will ask Nazarbayev
to forgive Shaykman, and we'll get the poor guy sent home."

BEST-EVER RELATIONS



5. (C) Despite the military procurement scandal, Mei-Ami
said Israel-Kazakhstan relations are "the best ever," because
Peres and Nazarbayev developed an unusually warm relationship
during Peres' early-July visit to Astana. As a result,
Kazakhstan has invited Israel's Foreign Minister, Defense
Minister, and "a host of other ministers" to visit Kazakhstan
in the near future. Further, while he was in Astana, Peres
sealed an agreement for Israel and Kazakhstan to fund jointly
($20 million each) agricultural research and applied-science
research. As the first result, on July 24, the two sides
signed an agreement for their research institutes to develop
a new strain of high-yield wheat for Kazakhstan.

AN ISRAEL-SAUDI ARABIA MEETING IN ASTANA?


6. (C) Mei-Ami noted that during his visit to Astana, Peres
gave the keynote address at the International Congress of
Traditional and World religions on July 1. In the speech,
Peres had announced that he is willing to meet King Abdullah
of SAUDI ARABIA at any time and in any place. As a courtesy
to Nazarbayev who was sitting next to him, Peres added that
maybe such a meeting could take place in Astana. According
to Mei-Ami, Israel and Kazakhstan are "quietly considering"
this option because an Astana meeting would be in a non-Arab
but Muslim-majority capital, and because Nazarbayev could use
his good relationship with the Moscow leadership to get
Russia to be more helpful on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

PRAISE FOR SENATOR MITCHELL


7. (C) Commenting on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, Mei-Ami
praised Senator George Mitchell and his team as "highly
honorable and fair people." He acknowledged negative public
opinion in Israel about the Obama Administration, but said he
believes that "U.S. leadership can influence Israeli society
for the better."
HOAGLAND