A fastener of the coalition

The country lived for more than four months without the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) secretary, even as it was at war. This position was finally filled on December 16. As long predicted by many experts, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko appointed Oleksandr Turchynov to this post. The presidential decree reads: “To appoint Oleksandr Turchynov Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.” Turchynov is now the leader of the Popular Front’s caucus in the Verkhovna Rada. He previously held the office of parliamentary speaker from February 22 to November 27, 2014, and served as acting president from February 23 to June 7, 2014.

“I personally believe that he is the most effective and successful candidate because Turchynov does not need any time to get up to date in his new office, since he is fully aware of the situation. A key element of our enemy’s strategy is splitting Ukraine’s political unity. So, besides the situation on the frontlines and in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Turchynov’s other very important task is to stabilize the domestic political situation,” the head of state stated after presenting Turchynov as Secretary of the NSDC.

“Our country is subject to a systemic, brutal war, and victory is our only option,” the new NSDC secretary declared in his turn. “However, to achieve it, we need to mobilize all national resources. This requires effective cooperation and coordination of all elements of Ukraine’s defense and security organization. The NSDC should become an effective decision-making center for defense of our country. I believe that together, we can do it.”

Let us recall that the Verkhovna Rada passed in the first reading a bill amending the law on the NSDC of Ukraine in mid-December. What do these amendments mean? What should we expect from the new secretary of the NSDC?

“TAKING INTO ACCOUNT POLITICAL BALANCE CONSIDERATIONS, HE IS THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR  THE MOMENT”

Yevhen MARCHUK, statesman:

“As a former secretary of the NSDC, who served in that position for 3.5 years, I would say that it all depends on who the NSDC secretary is. Amendments set to appear in the law on the NSDC, like those investing the office with control and coordination responsibilities, are, in fact, just describing the real situation. We have the current law on the NSDC and the NSDC provisions in the Constitution (part of its ‘The President of Ukraine’ chapter), so concerns that are expressed today by people fearing that the president will entrust coordination of all security agencies to Turchynov are often unfounded. It would be great to see the president delegating even a bit of his coordination responsibilities, because the president has seemed so far to be the sole coordinator of the security community, and I am not blaming him for that. It is an undisputed responsibility of the presidential office, and the Presidential Administration, for example, has an official charged with overseeing the security community (Yurii Kosiuk was not one, he was tasked with providing for the community’s funding needs), but it is not necessarily the president’s personal responsibility. On the one hand, I do not see any danger in Turchynov taking over too much power over the security community. Even looking at Poroshenko’s personal traits, we see that the president is unwilling to delegate authority. On the other hand, it is good to see an impulse of the security responsibilities concentration in the NSDC, because after Andrii Parubii’s resignation (he is a respected man, but he did the right thing to resign), the president ignored somewhat the NSDC mechanisms. What I mean is that while holding NSDC meetings often enough, the president neglected monitoring the implementation of decisions taken at these meetings, and it was a problem, knowing what any bureaucratic machine, including that of the NSDC, is. Any decision of the NSDC, which comes into effect when included in a presidential decree, ends with the provision saying that monitoring of the implementation rests with the NSDC secretary. By the way, it often brought previous NSDC secretaries into conflicts with the Cabinets and prime ministers.

“Therefore, it is good to see this appointment finally happening. If there are additional responsibilities involved, I do not see anything wrong with that. I would only suggest, to the president as well, showing that the mechanism of the NSDC is an additional lever of the national policymaking, which has not been observed to date. The secretary has control function, submits to the parliament bills initiated by the president, and represents the head of state in international institutions.

“Is Turchynov suited for the position? If it is a political gesture aiming to prevent confrontation with the Popular Front, then it is a coalition-strengthening measure. In terms of experience, Turchynov held high offices at a difficult time. Of course there were mistakes, but attributing them only to him would be a wrong thing to do, especially now. Even though national security is not his preferred field in politics, he managed to sense the state machine’s condition, its weakness when the Crimea annexation was happening, where the very fate of Ukrainian statehood hung in the balance for a few days. I think that taking into account political balance considerations, he is the best candidate for the moment.

“I would advise Turchynov to start with systematic study not only of the domestic legal framework and its history, but of international law as well. I think he will find enough people willing to judge his work, especially as it will be public. We will support him, but also pass unbiased judgments on his mistakes and unwise decisions. He will have to deal with fundamental things as well. I mean the need to research the concept of the new military doctrine, which will not be easy. In addition, we have a large Institute for Strategic Studies. I think Volodymyr Horbulin will help Turchynov. National security requires deep understanding, not haste. We must correctly distribute research load on tactical and strategic problems alike. So, if Turchynov is able to correctly organize tactical and strategic analytics work, and not just deal with current affairs, he will get results.”

“TURCHYNOV’S APPOINTMENT SHOWS THAT THE PRESIDENT IS REALLY SHORT OF CANDIDATES TO FILL POSITIONS”

Hryhorii PEREPELYTSIA, Doctor of Political Sciences, conflict researcher, professor at Kyiv National Taras Shevchenko University:

“It seems that the nation’s defense against military aggression is not a priority for our leadership. Following Parubii’s resignation as the NSDC secretary, the position was vacant.

“I see Turchynov’s appointment as evidence that the president is really short of candidates to fill positions. It immediately raises many questions. Why did Ukraine effectively abandon Crimea? Who was responsible for protecting national security and territorial integrity of the country at the time? Why the acting president did not act in accordance with the Constitution and legislation that provides for actions to be taken in case of military aggression and the need to defend the country? Why the terrorists were allowed to occupy the Donbas unopposed? We saw the NSDC of Ukraine doing exactly nothing at the time. It was Turchynov who led the NSDC and the country then. Why the invaders began to be repulsed only after President Poroshenko’s inauguration? All these actions and inactions caused a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We should expect Turchynov to act just as he did when serving as acting president.

“This appointment can be explained by looking for an office for Turchynov. It was the same with Poroshenko who was to become the Verkhovna Rada speaker in the wake of the Orange Revolution. He himself wanted to be prime minister, but Viktor Yushchenko had promised that position to Tymoshenko. Arsenii Yatseniuk was a member of this team as well, so Poroshenko had to make do with the NSDC secretary’s office. Subsequently, the agency began to assume the Cabinet’s functions, but it did nothing for the security and defense of Ukraine.

“The same thing happened when Rinat Akhmetov reached an agreement with Yushchenko to return the Party of Regions (PoR) to power. Viktor Yanukovych was made prime minister then, and at the Donetsk oligarch’s requests his close ally Raisa Bohatyriova was appointed secretary of the NSDC. Andrii Kliuiev did a similar jump, as he was one of the most influential people in the PoR and wanted to get an important public office.

“Unfortunately, the national security was of no use to all Ukrainian governments of that period, and it had no funding priority. The NSDC, meanwhile, eventually become a cesspit for failed statespeople, corrupt politicians. One such failed politician was Stepan Havrysh, who got the office of the NSDC secretary following his firing from key positions in the PoR. Volodymyr Sivkovych and former prosecutor general Oleksandr Medvedko were sent to the council as well.

“The NSDC was also used as a tool for combating other branches of government. The public duties and constitutional functions of the NSDC were completely forgotten, even though it has to coordinate all elements of the national security organization.

“A draft of the reform plan for the NSDC is now being discussed, and this plan may see it really taking its rightful place in the national security and defense system. However, based on our tradition of appointments, chances of an optimistic scenario are not too high.”