VZCZCXRO0513
OO RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #1002 2411035
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281035Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8371
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH IMMEDIATE 5061
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0225

UNCLAS HANOI 001002 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR IO/UNP MOORE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PREL CG RS VM
SUBJECT: VIETNAM REFUSES TO CONDEMN RUSSIA'S RECOGNITION OF ABKHAZIA 
AND SOUTH OSSETIA 
 
REF: STATE 92371 
 
¶1.  (SBU) On August 28, the Ambassador spoke with Vice FM Pham Binh 
Minh to urge that Vietnam's PermRep publicly and forcefully condemn 
Russia's August 26 decision to recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia. 
 Per reftel, the Ambassador stressed that the Security Council, if 
it meets in special session, should call upon Russia to revoke its 
recognition of the two separatist regions and reaffirm in strong 
terms Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty. Russia must 
implement President Sarkozy's six-point plan, as clarified in the 
French President's subsequent letter to President Saakashvili, and 
begin cooperating with the OSCE, EU, and UN to deploy an 
international mechanism to bring stability to the region, the 
Ambassador emphasized. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) VFM Minh responded that while Vietnam has been in favor of 
international mediation and supports the Sarkozy plan, his 
government would not condemn Russia.  In Vietnam's view, the crisis 
was initiated by Saakashvili's decision to move into South Ossetia, 
at the cost of civilian life.  Russia's decision, Minh continued, 
was moreover a direct consequence of the U.S.-led movement to 
recognize Kosovo, which Vietnam had opposed.  The Ambassador 
rejected any comparison with Kosovo, emphasizing that until June of 
this year, Kosovo had been administered by the UN according to UNSC 
resolutions and that Kosovo's independence was the result of a long, 
complicated process of negotiation, led by the UN.  None of these 
aspects applied in the case of South Ossetia or Abkhazia, the 
Ambassador told Minh. 
 
MICHALAK