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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

President Gave Account Of Promises

20 July, 1999 - 00:00

By Serhiy ZGURETS, The Day

"It depends on the officers corps whether the army should be out of politics
and not let itself be drawn into political wrangling and inter-party settling
of accounts. Much to the credit of the military, I have no complaints about
them," said Commander-in-Chief Leonid Kuchma, addressing the First All-Ukrainian
Assembly of Officers on July 13 in Kyiv. The function was formally called
The Objectives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the Second Buildup Stage
and the Role of the Officers Corps. But in reality, the army was reporting
to the President, and the President to the army.

500 junior and senior officers from all Ukrainian regions listened to
the President's lengthy speech which was planned as an account of his years
of presidency. It dealt only with the positive: stabilization of the economy,
halting the slump in output, an upsurge in agriculture, the making of the
banking and tax system, increased international authority, and peace in
a country where there is no war and national harmony reigns. "I have fulfilled
the main strategic task of the five-year period: to maintain political
stability in the state and preserve civic peace," said Mr. Kuchma, adding
this was "without exaggeration, an exception among the post-Soviet countries."
However, on July 13, Latvian members of Parliament, while meeting chairman
of the Verkhovna Rada Committee for Social Policies and Labor Yevhen Marchuk,
said their country, of course, has problems but the Latvian population
does not know what wage or pension arrears are. True, even Secretary of
the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Volodymyr Horbulin
points out, as UNIAN reports, this country's growing dependence on fuel
supplies and his own concern over shadowization in the economy. And Deputy
Premier Serhiy Tyhypko said on July 13 the Ukrainian economy is on the
brink of collapse.

The President admitted there are no cheap and strong armies. So he promised
to make a personal effort to supply the army with up-to-date equipment
and armaments, put an end to such social maladies as lack of accommodations
and pay arrears, although this is, of course, closely connected with general
economic growth in the country. However, for the officers to have enough
stamina to await such economic growth, the Commander-in-Chief announced
he had signed a decree whereby the Armed Forces servicemen have had salaries
increased by 40% as of July 1. This at last slightly perked up the audience,
which had been grimly heeding the President's conceptual theses, and even
drew some applause.

The army also had something to boast of to the President. According
to Minister of Defense Oleksandr Kuzmuk, the Armed Forces have not lost
combat readiness. In spite of very limited funding, the army is mastering
new methods and equipment for carrying out military actions. This year,
heavy bombers will for the first time test-fire cruise missiles. New sophisticated
equipment has been adopted, including Bars homing warheads for anti-aircraft
missiles. For the first time, military highbrows have begun the long-term
restructuring of Ukrainian army combat units, to be completed by the year
2010. "These will be twenty-first century units," General Kuzmuk said.

As to the best representatives of Ukrainian officers, they, as befits
the military, confined themselves precisely to eight minutes in their speeches
at this democratic meeting. A popular theme running through the speeches
was the expectation that next year the army will remain with the current
President. Of course, Mr. Kuchma had no special complaints about this.
The point is whether the garrisons stationed far away from Bankova Street
have complaints about the President. Of course, this is not a theme for
ceremonial functions.

THE DAY'S INFORMATION

What is our army like in terms of figures? It turned out that if you
take all equipment and weapons, it will suffice to line up two columns
2200 kilometers long, that is, from Kyiv to London. One overall salvo of
all Ukrainian armaments means 60,000 tons of ammunition, an equivalent
to three A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima. One instance of fueling is 100,000
tons or 2,000 fuel tanks. An overall daily ration amounts to 1,700 tons
of food. Total manpower is 310,000.

 

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