Ukraine's Armed Forces detail plans for extensive military reform (08/17/03)

Ukraine's Armed Forces detail plans for extensive military reform

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Armed Forces have undertaken extensive and specific military reform to bring it under civilian control and in line with NATO requirements. The changes will include an extensive reduction in positions requiring the rank of general and a shift toward a non-military leadership within the Ministry of Defense.

The reform plan calls for full implementation by the end of 2005. Some NATO experts believe that in 2006 Ukraine will have its first real window of opportunity to receive an invitation to join the defense alliance.

"The most important and serious aspect of the reform package is to make society, the Verkhovna Rada and its committees more readily aware of our problems," explained Capt. 2nd Class Ihor Khaliavinskyi, press spokesperson for the Ministry of Defense, in an exclusive interview with The Weekly on August 14.

The changes were approved by President Leonid Kuchma on July 28 as part of a 13-page document, titled 'Plan for the Realization of the Ukrainian law 'On Democratic Civilian Control over the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Organs of the Country.' "

The plan - which would make the military more accountable to the Ukrainian citizenry - was developed by the Ministry of Defense after Yevhen Marchuk took charge there in June. Mr. Marchuk, who previously served as secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, has been a prime supporter of Ukraine's entry into NATO since the Ukrainian government declared its intention to go that route in May 2002.

Mr. Khaliavinskyi noted that the goal is for non-military personnel to hold at least 40 percent of all leadership and department posts within the Ministry of Defense by the end of this year, which would increase to 80 percent by 2005. Requirements that only personnel with the rank of general could hold specific positions would be eliminated in nearly 70 percent of such cases, which correspondingly should result in a large-scale reduction of that rank within the military.

The changes will include a rebalancing of administrative, political and military responsibilities within the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces, which is subordinated to it.

The plan is meant to allow much more transparency within the often opaque corridors of military bureaucracy. It calls for specific contingencies, to develop better relations with lawmakers within the Ukrainian Parliament and with non-governmental organizations.

It requires the development of direct lines of communication between the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense press office to ensure that more information is available to the mass media and calls for the development of a detailed interactive website.

To improve relations with the press, it stipulates that press conferences, briefings, Internet conferences or telephone "hot lines" take place at least two-three times a month and for "press days" to occur routinely.

The plan also outlines the development of ties to non-governmental civic organizations in order to keep them abreast of the work of the Ministry of Defense.

To allow society to better understand how the transformation to civilian rule will take place, to plan orders that the Ministry of Defense website make available information on the legislative basis for the reforms and how they are proceeding; what type of military hardware the Armed Forces have at their disposal and what is being prepared for the future; and what military-to-military cooperation is taking place with foreign countries.

The plan prioritizes improving relations between the Armed Forces leadership and its conscripts. New Ukrainian recruits and draftees have often been the subject of hazing by veteran soldiers in what is called "didivschyna," which has led to some young men going absent without leave and even to the deaths of others.

Among the reforms is a requirement for sensitivity training for officers to ensure the rights and freedoms of soldiers. In the very first point, it delineates a requirement to "explain to members of the Armed Forces and their families their constitutional rights and freedoms, and the legislation that gives them social and legal protection."

The same point also demands that officers take part in courses that train them about constitutional and legal rights and freedoms that conscripts retain and explains that they are forbidden to violate them.

Finally, much attention is paid to getting more funds for the Ministry of Defense from the annual budget, which the military has repeatedly stated it needs in order to proceed with long-discussed reform and to recruit civilians to run it.

The Ministry of Defense would like to see its budget set at a minimum of 3 percent of the GDP in order to keep pace with increased military salaries and to absorb the costs of new hardware and the reforms proposed.

"We will be presenting our financial problems to the Verkhovna Rada so that within the budgetary process our needs and requirements for reform will get attention and so that we can pursue this seriously," explained Capt. Khaliavinskyi. "Everybody has discussed reform - the Ministry of Defense, the president, the Verkhovna Rada - now we need to ensure that we have the finances to finally do it."

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