DEMARCHE ON RUSSIAN RECOGNITION OF ABKHAZIA AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L NAIROBI 000582 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/15/2018 TAGS: PREL GG RS KE SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON RUSSIAN RECOGNITION OF ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA REF: STATE 24186 Classified By: Political Officer Rachel Meyers, Reasons 1.4 b,d ¶1. (C) On March 19, A/Pol Counselor delivered reftel demarche to Ambassador Binsai Chepsongol, head of the Americas division at the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. While not overly familiar with the dynamics of the recognition issue, Chepsongol did ask how the situation was different from Kosovo. He seemed satisfied with the explanation provided in reftel that Kosovo is a special case, having been under UN-led international administration. Chepsongol noted that Kenya would follow the position of the UN Security Council on the recognition issue, and pledged to raise this issue with his colleagues in the Europe division and the International Organizations and Conferences (IOC) division, which covers UN issues. Chepsongol noted that the Kenyan Ambassador to Moscow is likely also accredited to a number of other former Soviet republics, but that he did not have any plans to visit Abkhazia or South Ossetia. RANNEBERGER