“NATO is interested in Ukraine carrying out effective defense reform and will constantly support this process. The alliance will help conduct an expert assessment of all variants of the reform, but the final choice will rest, of course, with Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General’s special advisor for Central and Eastern Europe, Christopher Donnelly, said in Kyiv on February 14.
The Monday before last, representatives of the NATO countries and high-placed Ukrainian military officials gathered in Kyiv for an international forum called Reforming the Armed Forces of Ukraine: The Need for Changes (see photo). “The main objective of reforms is to form in Ukraine within the next 4-5 years (or even a little more) modern Armed Forces approaching the European model,” Yevhen Marchuk, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, pointed out, opening the conference. However, doing this work, Kyiv cannot ignore the processes quickly unfolding around Ukraine. Among these changes, Mr. Marchuk mentioned the development of a new national security concept and military doctrine in Russia, NATO expansion eastward, the Balkan crisis, the continuing Chechnya tragedy, and the establishment of a Russo-Belarus Union.
“These changes have occurred in the past eighteen months, and they should be taken into account while working out programs aimed at reforming this country’s whole defense sphere,” Mr. Marchuk noted. This kind of program should be based on the direction Ukraine chose in its development, i.e., European integration. However, Mr. Marchuk said Ukraine should also take into account another reality when dealing with the military reform. The issue is Russia, Ukraine’s strategic economic partner and powerful neighbor, a nuclear superpower, especially as part of the Russo-Belarus Union. “We still have done no comprehensive analysis of the consequences Ukraine will face as a result of the functioning of this union,” Mr. Marchuk said.
But in addition to political realities there are economic ones. They are also changing, and Ukraine still hopes to overcome its current crisis, step up the economic potential, and revive the national defense complex. This is why, in the face of these Herculean tasks, “of special use for us is the experience of the European and NATO countries which have successfully carried out their defense reforms. And we are grateful that NATO responded very quickly to our requests to furnish us all the necessary materials and information to this effect,” Mr. Marchuk stressed.
The Ukrainian military, who are restructuring the army under a state program adopted some years ago, also agree that these plans should be modified to some extent. According to Volodymyr Shevchenko, Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine, an interdepartmental work group has already been formed by Presidential instruction in order to draft modifications to the military reform. But all the work done up to now is also useful. For as the general says, it is the current program that led Ukraine to build its military organization and Armed Forces on a systematic basis.
NATO representative Christopher Donnelly in turn noted that the course of defense reform in Ukraine is under close scrutiny of the alliance’s new Secretary General George Robertson. The proposals to be drawn up by experts in Kyiv will be referred for consideration to the NATO states so that they can make specific decisions to support Ukraine’s actions in this directions. “NATO is aware that the existence of a stable military structure, internal security forces, and police is quite an important component of overall stability in this country,” the NATO representatives noted, adding they would help Ukraine as long as necessary. The main thing is that Kyiv should have enough resolve to implement its plans.
