Ukraine and Russia agree to increase military cooperation (01/28/01)

Ukraine and Russia agree to increase military cooperation

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - After a series of meetings between Russia's Minister of Defense Igor Sergeev and Ukrainian authorities, the two countries have agreed to increase cooperation in the Black Sea region and in technology modernization.

Contrary to what has appeared in some Western publications, however, Russia will not have any more influence over the planning of international military exercises on Ukrainian territory in 2001 than any other participating country.

Minister Sergeev's visit to Kyiv on January 18-20 has caused some concern in the West over what appears to be a renewed spirit of close military cooperation between Kyiv and Moscow after nearly a decade of uncertainty and distrust that arose after the Soviet Union collapsed.

Serhii Nahorianskyi, press secretary to Ukraine's Minister of Defense Oleksander Kuzmuk, said on January 24 that the 52-point agreement signed by Minister Sergeyev and Gen. Kuzmuk on January 18 is nothing more than a routine schedule of cooperation.

"[Ukraine] does not belong to any international defense alliances, so all our cooperation efforts are bilateral, as is the case with Russia," explained Col. Nahorianskyi.

He explained that during negotiations on the agreement no discussions took place on what Russia's role would be in the development of international military exercises on Ukrainian soil or Ukraine's role in military maneuvers in Russia.

Col. Nahorianskyi said that Gen. Kuzmuk had invited Russia to take part in NATO military exercises in Ukraine, such as Peace Shield 2001, Sea Breeze 2001 and the Cooperative Partnership exercises, all of which are part of the Partnership for Peace program, an invitation that Minister Sergeyev accepted. However, the press secretary emphasized that the United States and Ukraine will remain the chief organizers of these projects.

"What Marshal Sergeev said could only be a reference to participation in general planning," explained Col. Nahorianskyi. "We and the U.S. do the specific planning."

Col. Nahorianskyi's statements contradict an assertion made in a story that appeared in the January 23 issue of the Financial Times in which the reporter, Charles Clover, wrote that "Ukraine has agreed to allow Russia to take part in the planning of all multinational military exercises on its soil." He attributed the statement to a Russian general.

In the story he quoted Col. Gen. Leonid Ivashov of Russia's Defense Ministry as saying that the goal of the agreement signed by the two sides was "joint parrying of foreign threats."

Col. Nahorianskyi did not rule out that Russian military officials may have exaggerated their role or that there may have been a translation error.

The three-day talks in Kyiv produced tangible evidence of a desire to work more closely on projects that would benefit both sides. Moscow and Kyiv agreed to the formation of a joint Ukrainian-Russian naval unit in Sevastopol, where both the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the Ukrainian navy are stationed.

Col. Nahorianskyi dispelled any suggestion that the naval unit may have a secretive character. "Our military doctrine does not foresee the development of secret units," he explained. "We strictly maintain our non-aligned status."

The special naval unit will have twofold responsibility. It will assume the duties of the navigational command-control center for ship traffic entering and leaving the bays of Sevastopol, and it will carry out search and rescue operations for the area.

The joint Russian-Ukrainian force will become the third such binational force to which Ukraine is a party. Kyiv already has troops in a Ukrainian-Polish battalion currently serving in Kosovo and a Ukrainian-Romanian-Slovak-Hungarian engineering battalion on its western border named Tysa. There are also plans for a military force to be associated with the GUUAM organization, of which Ukraine is a leading partner.

Perhaps what is most disconcerting to the West is the possibility that Ukraine and Russia may join forces in weapons development. Although such cooperation is not envisaged in the 52 events scheduled for 2001, it became the central focus of discussions between Minister Sergeev and Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma on January 20.

The two sides agreed on joint efforts to modernize their current weapons systems, which Minister Sergeev said is a key issue for both countries.

Gen. Kuzmuk said that it would be the beginning of cooperation not only between the armed forces of Ukraine and Russia, but also of their respective military-industrial complexes.

"The issue is not only about military forces, but also about cooperation between military-industrial complexes, their development and the creation of new sorts of arms and production," said Gen. Kuzmuk.

A Ministry of Defense spokesperson tempered Gen. Kuzmuk's remarks on January 25 when he explained that the immediate objective is weapons modernization, not new technology development.

"Currently, the agreement is not about the development of new technology, but the modernization of aging technology," explained Lt. Col. Konstantyn Khivrenko.

He explained that the Ukrainian and Russian military have common technologies from the Soviet era, which need to be updated. The new agreement will allow them to jointly begin to modernize. One example offered by Lt. Col. Khivrenko is the Su-22 airplane, which both sides believe can continue to be utilized if it is brought up to current international military standards.

The lieutenant colonel did not reject the possibility that Russia and Ukraine would eventually begin new weapons technology development.

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