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“SEA BREEZE-2008” AND PROSPECTS OF UKRAINE’S JOINING NATO

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VITALY PORTNIKOV,
“Svoboda” broadcasting station’s observer, Kyiv

The holding of “Sea Breeze” military exercises and Ukraine’s joining NATO should be regarded as two different processes. Some people want to unite them, but Kyiv has not applied for the NATO membership yet. Ukraine has not received the NATO Membership Action Plan and, apparently, will not recieve it in December. Now only the NATO military exercises are being held in Ukraine.

Why do people turn their attention to those exercises? The reason is the legal nihilism. The NATO military exercises have been held for many years and previously nobody paid his attention to them. According to the Ukrainian laws, foreign troops can be deployed in Ukraine only with the permission of the Verkhovna Rada. This procedure was observed strictly when “Sea Breeze” exercises were held except the year 2006.

Obviously, the representatives of some marginal political associations like the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine and the “Brotherhood” organization, which did not enjoy the support of the population, took this opportunity to promote their political ideas. When the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine said that the Verkhovna Rada had not given its permission for the presence of a foreign army in Ukraine, thus demanding that the legal procedures be fulfilled, the party was backed by more voters than when all the norms were abided by.

There is a need to thank the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine for paying their attention to that. From then on the military exercises have been held in accordance with the laws and the Parliament votes for their holding.

As regards Ukraine’s joining NATO, today the majority of the Ukrainian population are against NATO entry. Recently Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko stated that Ukraine would join NATO only if the Ukrainian people supported that.

Without this support, the NATO membership has become the target of debates in Ukraine. The issue raises the political weight of some Ukrainian marginal political organizations and Russian experts.

Before the last presidential election in Russia it was said that if Ukraine joined NATO, Kyiv and Moscow would be the enemies. After the elections, in Brussels new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev came out against Ukraine’s joining NATO but said that this would not worsen the relations between Russia and NATO to a considerable degree. I believe that it would not be a catastrophe for the relations between Russia and Ukraine either.

The material is based on Vitaly PORTNIKOV's address to the round table “NATO military exercises “Sea Breeze-2008” in Ukraine and the prospects of the country’s joining the North-Atlantic Alliance” in the Russian Agency of International Information RIA Novosti.

July 21, 2008




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