During the 5-day Russian-Georgian war official Yerevan tried to prevent any negative processes in Javakhk, a Georgian region with a dense Armenian population. The Georgian side stressed the fact at the top level later, the political scientist Sergey Minasyan, Deputy Director of the Institute of Caucasus, told NEWS.am, commenting on the WikiLeaks-published secret correspondence on the situation in Armenia during the 5-day war. The correspondence was carries out by the U.S. Department of State.

As to the letter by U.S. Charge d’Affaires Joseph Pennington, which says that the Armenian authorities were increasingly disappointed by Georgia’s unwillingness to establish contacts, Minasyan said that, by August 13, 2008, Georgia had lost two of its parts. The country was halved and was in a “state of collapse.” “The statements that the Georgian President and Foreign Minister did not answer the calls of the neighboring states’ leaders are natural. Saakashvili did not even answer the calls of most of his administration staff,” the expert said.

However, in September 2008, gradually recovering, the Georgian side made a sober appraisal of Armenia’s role during the 5-day war. “Evidence thereof is the fact that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan was the first of the neighboring states’ leaders to pay an official visit to Georgia after the hostilities. During the meeting President Sargsyan was decorated with a presidential order, which shows the Georgian’s side’s appraisal of official Yerevan’s position,” Minasyan said.

According to the WikiLeaks-published secret correspondence, Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian stated Armenian tried to help Georgia by receiving more than 4,000 refugees and offering a humanitarian corridor. The Minister stressed Armenian needed good relations with Georgia due to its contribution to regional stability. Despite all the efforts, the Georgian leader would not answer his Armenian counterpart’s calls. In his turn, the Georgian FM, who was flying to Georgia with a stopover in Armenia, refused to meet with Armenian counterpart at the Yerevan airport, Pennington wrote.