Ukrainian battalion may head for Persian Gulf
The report that Washington is allegedly shelving the Kolchuga affair caused an almost total furor. First, they put this country to worldwide shame and then suddenly shelve the matter! Without apologies or denials. What is this all about? It turned out to be just an incorrect translation into Ukrainian.
US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Steven Pifer spoke in Washington last week, focusing on the revision of US policies toward Kyiv. He noted, among other things, that, instead of getting fixated on the Kolchuga scandal, the two states should march on and further develop their relations. Then he pronounced the “sensational” phrase: “an issue that we put in a box.” This phrase was misinterpreted by Ukrainian journalists as “an issue that we shelved.” Last Wednesday, the US Embassy press service thus commented to The Day on the Washington speech: “Steven Pifer expressed our view that it is difficult to imagine at this time that the US and Ukrainian governments can come to a common vision of what happened about the Kolchuga affair. Therefore, we should not let US- Ukrainian relations focus on our differences over Kolchuga, but our governments should actively work to positively solve other issues on the agenda of US-Ukrainian relations, which could bring about an overall change in the dynamics of relations.”
It looks like the Kolchuga affair is being pushed to the background. This does not mean, however, that this issue will disappear. US Ambassador to Ukraine, Carlos Pascual, noted on February 19 that “we can hardly say that the US has changed its stance.” He reiterated that there are still two open questions on this issue: permission to sell the radar systems and the very process of handing over the Kolchugas. The US diplomat was thus vindicating the consistent foreign policy of his state. Mr. Pascual said again that he had long been advising to separate the Kolchuga problem from the development of bilateral relations. US Representative Curt Weldon, who was in Kyiv on a three-day visit, emphasized at the February 19 press conference that “the cooling of our relations” was caused by erroneous actions of the governments of both countries. According to the US Congressman, whoever thinks that Washington has lost interest in Ukraine is wrong, “Such thoughts are totally groundless.” Mr. Weldon said his meetings with the Ukrainian leadership (the President, the Prime Minister, the Parliamentary Speaker, the Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs) had made a positive impression on him, which he will share with his American colleagues.
It is too early to say that Washington has revised its stance on the Kolchuga affair and that US- Ukrainian relations are truly being defrosted, which the Ukrainian foreign ministry claimed last Tuesday. Yet, the growing US interest clearly seems to be playing the main role in the shaping of US policies towards Ukraine. It is in this context that the meeting between Ambassador Pascual and President Leonid Kuchma last Monday should be viewed.
Meanwhile, on February 20, the National Security and Defense Council (NDSC) of Ukraine resolved that this country might send, if necessary, its servicemen to the Persian Gulf region. Readiness to do so had been expressed earlier by President Leonid Kuchma.
“It was decided to approve the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense to send a detached chemical, biological, and radiological warfare battalion to the Persian Gulf and Middle East area to protect the populace and the terrain of the region’s states from the consequences of a likely mass- scale contamination,” NDSC Secretary Yevhen Marchuk noted after the Council meeting. He stressed that the Ukrainian soldiers would not be directly engaged in the hostilities should these be launched. Besides, the CBR battalion will be stationed not in Iraq but in another Persian Gulf country.
The NDSC secretary pointed out that the February 20 decision should not be considered “final” because sending a Ukrainian military unit to a foreign state requires a special procedure to follow. Moreover, the final decision will be made by Verkhovna Rada. Before doing so, Ukraine must receive an invitation from the hosting country. The NDSC secretary said negotiations are now underway with two countries that border on Iraq. After the invitation has been received, it will be necessary to conclude a relevant agreement with the inviting state. Then this document must be ratified by parliaments of the two states. The NDSC secretary emphasized the Ukrainian battalion would be sent to the Gulf not as part of a peacekeeping mission but under the law On the Procedure of Sending Ukrainian Military Units to Foreign States.
Besides, this does not necessarily require a UN Security Council resolution. So far, Mr. Marchuk noted, ministries and departments have been instructed to solve all — including legal and financial — problems related to the sending of soldiers. Incidentally, transporting the battalion will cost Ukraine 20 million hryvnias. The NSDC secretary also said the battalion would be sent on the basis of not the United States inquiry note to the President of Ukraine but “the invitation of the country where the battalion will be stationed.” Mr. Marchuk admitted it was a risk to send the Ukrainian battalion to the Persian Gulf area. “When chemical or biological weapons are used, this can be compared to a nuclear war,” he said, still hoping that this kind of weapons will be resorted to in case hostilities break out.
The NDSC secretary also added that compensations for the injuries or death of the Ukrainian servicemen would be paid out under the Ukrainian and international law.
The CBR battalion, now stationed in Sambor, Lviv oblast, is equipped with the hardware and personnel to decontaminate the terrain exposed to the effects of the mass destruction weapons. “If the decision [to send soldiers to the Gulf region] is to be made, the battalion will be ready to carry out radiological monitoring of the areas and roads, degas, deactivate and disinfect the terrain as well as the equipment,” Gen. Oleksandr Zatynaiko, Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said earlier.
Mr. Marchuk emphasized that Washington’s turning to Ukraine for help is “a good sign,” for this “shows the high class” of Ukrainian army units. Asked by journalists if the Kolchuga scandal was on the wane, the NDSC secretary opined that this affair “has receded to the background. I hope it will recede still further because no evidence has been found.”
Mr. Marchuk stopped short of forecasting, though, whether Verkhovna Rada will support the latest NDSC resolution on sending our servicemen to the Gulf. “We will have to explain what this is all about. I would not say it is an easy, simple, and sure thing to do,” he said.
