It is time Ukraine passed a full-fledged law on national security, Serhiy Pyrozhkov, deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, believes. On Thursday, addressing a joint session of the committees for political affairs, defense and security, and science and technology of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Pyrozhkov emphasized that the concept of the national security of Ukraine drafted in 1992 and adopted by Verkhovna Rada in 1997 is already obsolete. In his view, identifying various, and not only military, threats is the main factor in the formation of government security policy. Analysis of situation in Ukraine shows that most threats to national security are of domestic origin, for example, corruption, inadequate social security of the people, and looming environmental and manmade disasters. He also named such foreign factors as globalization, which makes Ukraine more sensitive to negative processes in the outside world. Academician Pyrozhkov stressed that national security can only be ensured after taking into account many global factors, not only regional ones. In his opinion, one of Ukraine’s priority national policies is to combat the smuggling of arms and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Ukraine, Pyrozhkov reiterated, is convinced in the necessity of eradicating international terrorism. Simultaneously he expressed concern that the current antiterrorist operation in Afghanistan might overstep the limits of a regional conflict. The NSDC deputy secretary also thinks that the rapprochement of Russia and the US is to the benefit of Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine reports. He explained that, as Ukraine maintains strategic relations with both Russia and the US, the rapprochement between those two countries “is a good omen.” This will perhaps help solve the ABM Treaty problem, he noted. He also believes this rapprochement also benefits the European community, because it could prompt Russia to revise its attitude toward the expansion of the European Union and NATO.
