ambassador rudolf v. perina - Association for Diplomatic Studies and ...

was held by the Orthodox Church in the city’s main cathedral. It was a very touching
experience because the sympathy was so genuine and sincere. Of course, we cancelled all
our farewell dinners but had a very moving farewell with the Moldovan people. We flew
to the U.S. on September 23 after U.S. airports were reopened.
Q: So what was your next assignment?
PERINA: My next assignment was Washington-based but involved a lot of travel. My
title was Special Negotiator for Eurasian Conflicts, which basically meant conflicts in the
former Soviet Union. It was a job with the rank of Ambassador, though I did not have to
go through confirmation because I already had the title. I worked simultaneously on
resolution of four of the conflicts in the former Soviet Union. These were the Nagorno-
Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the two conflicts in Georgia
resulting from the secession of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and the Transnistrian
conflict in Moldova. The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict was the major responsibility in the
portfolio, and the one I spent the bulk of my time on. You will notice that I did not work
on the Chechnya conflict in Russia. That is primarily because Russia was not interested
in any outside assistance, and we could not help if Russia did not cooperate. So we
handled Chechnya as a human rights problem within Russia. The four conflicts I did
work on where all different in nature and had different mediation procedures so it is
probably best if we discuss them one by one.
Q: You did this from when to when?
PERINA: I was appointed right when I left Moldova in September of 2001 and I held the
job until May of 2004. I made 29 trips to Europe within that period in connection with
this job.
Q: When you arrived back here, what was the basic position of the Administration
toward these conflicts?
PERINA: With regard to the major conflict I dealt with, Nagorno-Karabakh, people felt
they had just been burned. In April 2001 there had been a large meeting organized by the
U.S., by my predecessor Carey Cavanaugh, in Key West, Florida. (President) Robert
Kocharian of Armenia and (President) Heydar Aliyev of Azerbaijan attended, as did the
new Secretary of State Colin Powell. There was a lot of media attention and expectation
that an agreement would be signed. Well, the meeting ended in failure, and it was an
embarrassment for Powell and the Bush Administration. Carey Cavanaugh spent the next
six months trying to revive the negotiating effort but could not do so. So when I came in,
there was a sense that any progress was unlikely in the near future. It was a little akin to
when I went to Belgrade in that there was a deep, pessimism about future prospects. I like
those kinds of challenges, however, because you have no place to go but up.
Q: So let’s talk about Nagorno-Karabakh. What were the issues and why had the talks
failed?
104