The NATO Information and Documentation Center in Ukraine (NIDC) turned 20 recently. On the occasion of the anniversary, the NATO mission organized at the Institute of International Relations of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (NUK) the event “Building Trust and Understanding through Public Diplomacy: 20 Years Together.” In this way, the organizers wanted to emphasize our joint efforts to promote democratic values and improve understanding of collective security as well as the importance of continued efforts to raise awareness in Ukraine about NATO and Ukraine-NATO cooperation.
The guests entered a festively dressed hall equipped with a NATO-themed photo exhibition and information stands. In addition, a flash mob event was held with the participation of students from the NUK’s Institute of International Relations and cadets from the school’s Military Institute.
The tone of the debate was set by Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Rose Gottemoeller, who stressed in a video message from NATO headquarters to students of the NUK’s Institute of International Relations and experts that NATO allies would never recognize the illegal and illegitimate annexation of Crimea. She noted also that Ukraine was one of the most valuable partners of NATO and assured that “the North Atlantic Alliance will continue to help Ukraine to implement all the reforms that will make it stronger and more stable.”
Meanwhile, NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Carmen Romero, who arrived from Brussels, said in her speech that the main mission of the Center was and remained the same as it was 20 years ago: to raise awareness that NATO provides and maintains peace in Europe and has always played an important role in modern European history.
According to her, the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the special partnership, scheduled for early June and planned to be held in Kyiv at the highest level with the participation of the NATO secretary general in early June, will indicate NATO’s commitment to Ukraine.
“Today, NATO,” stressed Romero, “is assisting Ukraine with difficult reforms so that Ukraine becomes a stable and democratic country that shares the fundamental values of the Alliance. Because a strong and stable Ukraine is good for NATO and the whole Euro-Atlantic community.”
She also believes that in its 20 years of active engagement in Ukraine, the NIDC has made a highly important contribution. “Due to the Center’s efforts, the topic of NATO is no longer taboo in Ukraine, and many of the myths and stereotypes about NATO have been dispelled through active dialog.”
Meanwhile, Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze talked a lot about the irreversibility of the Ukrainian choice in favor of NATO membership and Ukraine’s role as the eastern flank of NATO that defends the European values. In particular, she said in her speech: “Today, we can confidently state the irreversibility of our choice of the path of integration into NATO, which started 20 years ago when the NIDC was opened in Kyiv on May 12.”
She recalled that she studied at the Institute of International Relations then. According to her, the foundation of the Center launched NATO’s information presence in Ukraine and was followed by the signing of the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between Ukraine and NATO on July 9, 1997.
Klympush-Tsintsadze also said that Ukraine had reached a unique consensus on the choice in favor of enhanced cooperation with NATO and the strategic goal of NATO membership. At the same time, she stressed that “for now, neither Ukraine is ready for this, nor our partners are ready to accept such a move by Ukraine.”
Made by a vice prime minister, this statement of Ukraine’s unreadiness looks a bit strange. After all, Ukraine was engaged in sufficiently consistent and meaningful cooperation with the Alliance even back before 2000. Let us recall that this country has participated in the Partnership for Peace program since 1994, signed the Charter on a Distinctive Partnership between Ukraine and NATO in 1997, the Ukraine-NATO Committee was active as well, and various meetings and working contacts were held. It all formed an atmosphere of trust between Ukraine and NATO. The State Commission for Cooperation with NATO was chaired by the National Security and Defense (NSDC) Council Secretary Yevhen Marchuk starting in December 1999. Then, a radical intensification from mere cooperation to legally enshrining Ukraine’s intention to join NATO in the future ensued.
Ukraine’s intention to join the Alliance was first officially announced on May 23, 2002 at a meeting of the NSDC. “Due to changes in the situation in Europe, Ukraine’s continued adherence to the policy of non-alignment has become useless, and in some cases outright harmful,” Marchuk said then. It was he who created the basis, presented, reported and answered questions at all stages of the process.
Already in October 2002, the Verkhovna Rada held hearings on NATO. As a result of a major debate, it was resolved: “The determining factor in the successful advance of Ukraine to this objective will be its readiness for NATO membership...”
Ukraine’s intention to integrate into NATO structures was confirmed by the Law of Ukraine “On the National Security of Ukraine,” signed on June 19, 2003 and approved by a supermajority. Even the Party of Regions’ faction voted in favor of it then. Article 8 of the Guidelines for State Policy on the National Security declared that the foreign policy of Ukraine had to be active and aim to “...obtain membership in the EU and NATO while maintaining good relations and strategic partnership with Russia, other CIS countries, and other nations.”
Ukraine’s intention to join NATO was outlined more precisely in the new version of the Military Doctrine of Ukraine, which was approved by the NSDC and entered into force according to a presidential decree issued on June 15, 2004.
Ukraine’s serious focus on NATO membership changed the Alliance’s attitude towards this country. At the Prague Summit of the bloc, it introduced a new, higher mode of relations between Ukraine and NATO, called the Action Plan.
However, in the summer of 2004, after the Istanbul Summit, when it became clear that Ukraine was very close to signing the Membership Action Plan (MAP) with NATO, Leonid Kuchma made a U-turn away from the Alliance. It happened after he spent one or two days in the company of Vladimir Putin as the two avoided attention of the press somewhere on the Azov Sea coast. On coming home, Kuchma ordered the abovementioned formula for cooperation with NATO to be immediately removed from the military doctrine... When Viktor Yanukovych’s team later came to power, they removed this formula by a legislative vote from the abovementioned Law “On the National Security of Ukraine” as well.
We should also recall the story of the 2008 Bucharest Summit, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy blocked the MAP for Ukraine and Georgia. As a result, Russia invaded Georgia and illegally occupied 20 percent of the country in August the same year. Meanwhile, in 2014, the Kremlin, having apparently realized that NATO would fail to respond just as it did in the case of Georgia, illegally annexed Crimea and launched its ongoing aggression in eastern Ukraine. It is also necessary to stress that had the former presidents Kuchma and Yanukovych not played games with the nation’s foreign policy course, Russia would be unlikely to dare to engage in open aggression. Ukraine would have a completely different status and relationship with the Alliance.
It is clear that the current government should learn all these lessons and consolidate Ukraine’s course towards NATO membership in a more consistent way. It would be better yet to reinforce it by the will of the people, that is, to hold a referendum on NATO membership. We say it because “strengthening of cooperation with NATO in order to meet the criteria required for membership in this organization,” as stated in the Law “On the Principles of Domestic and Foreign Policy,” cannot be read as setting NATO membership as the ultimate goal. Moreover, how can one talk about the seriousness of Ukraine’s intention to obtain NATO membership if we have not had the position of head of the Mission of Ukraine to NATO filled for almost two years?
By the way, expert of the German Marshall Fund Bruno Lete, who also participated in the event, noted that Ukraine had changed since 2014. “We have witnessed significant and noticeable progress, especially given the fact that the country is at war. You can talk about successful transformations and be proud of them,” stressed the German expert.
In his view, the events of 2014-15 have put NATO and Ukraine back on the path that was interrupted in 2010.
“We see different opinions in Brussels on Ukraine’s membership. In this case, it is important that Ukraine show itself as a successful ally that is achieving progress in various areas of domestic reform. In addition, Ukraine should give a deep thought to how to present itself and its achievements to the world,” Lete believes.
One has to hope that the Ukrainian government will take into account both our previous experience of integration into NATO and the advice of friends from the Alliance on how to present themselves to the world. And most importantly, it needs to conduct active work with the North Atlantic Alliance, so that not only experts, like Lete, but most NATO leaders believed that Ukraine should be part of the Euro-Atlantic community.
