Editor's Note: What follows is the summary of a U.S. State Department cable from February 2010, which the WikiLeaks website released on Feb. 18. The author of the telegram is current U.S. ambassador John Tefft, who reports on his conversation with former President Leonid Kuchma about the 2010 presidential election outcome.
Former Ukrainian President Kuchma had no kind words for the current "orange" government, accusing it of ruining the economy and the country’s international reputation, and of deepening UKRAINE’s internal divisions. While he endorsed his former PM, Viktor Yanukovych, he characterized the February 7 runoff election as a choice between "bad and very bad." Kuchma dismissed the notion that Yanukovych would be a Russian tool, and praised Yatsenyuk among younger Ukrainian leaders for his "greater vision." He laid out the argument for an international consortium to manage (not to own) UKRAINE’s pipeline infrastructure, and said that the Russians would never stop dreaming of getting Sevastopol back. Read the entire cable here.
All seven U.S. State Department cables released on Feb. 18 can also be viewed here.
