“Ukraine should redouble its efforts to carry out reforms”

The Day watched the ministers’ meeting held on December 6-7 directly from the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. It is time to appraise the results of diplomatic work.

Firstly, two influential political institutions called the closest possible cooperation a top priority. The new reality of hybrid threats makes it necessary to move on together. The main proposals were about joint resistance to the hybrid war, cooperation in maritime operations, and boosting the defense potential. Some well-known positions were repeated and accentuated, but we never forgot to watch tonality and wording, for this can disclose very much in the rhetoric of top officials.

Let us focus on what the foreign ministers’ meeting can mean to Ukraine.

Ukraine is expanding functional cooperation with NATO. For example, Ukraine is now preparing to independently ensure the implementation of NATO’s Strategic Airlift Interim Solution (SALIS) program. This program works in the interests of 14 Alliance and EU member states, and its contractor is the German company Ruslan SALIS GmbH established by the Ukrainian state-run company Antonov Airlines and the Russian firm Volga-Dnieper. The three-year contract signed by Ukraine and Russia expires in December this year and will not be extended.

“Our political and moral position is that, due to Russian aggression, we must not help Russia technologically. We surely have sufficient capacity to meet NATO’s basic needs. All of our allies are taking a very positive view of using the Ukrainian aviation component,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said after the sitting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission.

Besides, in all probability, Ukraine will take part in the activities of the European Center for Countering Hybrid Threats which will comprise NATO and the EU as institutions and their member states. The decision on establishing this new entity was made at the ministers’ meeting, and it will reportedly begin to function as soon as the spring of 2017. “Unfortunately, we have gained the best experience in the course of fighting the Russian aggression, and NATO is aware of this,” Klimkin said cautiously without disclosing the details.

On the whole, the minister is convinced that Ukraine has made considerable progress in applying NATO standards and has already met 120 criteria. “We must go further so that Ukraine gradually becomes part of NATO’s eastern front,” he stressed.

At the same time, this raises the question of our preparedness for joining the Alliance – not only from the technical angle, but also in terms of societal demand and aspiration of the elites. Ukraine’s course towards entering the North Atlantic Alliance was charted in 2003 by the National Security and Defense Council (with Yevhen Marchuk as secretary) in the resolution “On Ukraine’s Strategy towards NATO.” A year later, the main principles and provisions of national security were detailed in the Law of Ukraine “On the Foundations of National Security.” But shortly after a meeting with the president of Russia in Sochi, Kuchma instructed that the abovementioned formula on cooperation with NATO be immediately deleted from the military doctrine. Then, having come to power, the Yanukovych team pressured parliament into withdrawing this formula from the law “On the Foundations of National Security of Ukraine.” The chance was missed, and, 11 years later, Russia occupied some of our territories and began a war.

What is topical now is a studious effort to inform society about the essence and the advantages of the North Atlantic Alliance. The newspaper Den/The Day has been waging this kind of campaign for many years, but other channels of communication, including the state-run ones, should have joined it long ago.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, and the current US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated that the Ukrainian issue was a top priority. But let us not forget about “tonality.” Whenever the NATO secretary general spoke to the media, he repeatedly mentioned “military and nonmilitary threats” to the Alliance and the European Union, but he never mentioned Russia in this context. And when a journalist questioned the wisdom of seeking a dialog with Russia because it is unwilling to take constructive steps, he said that even a letup in Russia’s aggressive rhetoric would be considered as progress.

“I welcome any toning down of the rhetoric… We will continue to pursue a dual track approach with Russia based on strength, based on deterrence and collective defense combined with dialog… We do not want a new cold war, we don’t seek confrontation with Russia… We have been able to convene two meetings of the NATO-Russia Council. And there we have also discussed issues like Ukraine. We didn’t come to any agreement, we continue to disagree, but I think just to meet, to sit around the table and to have a frank and open discussion on the difficult issues is also important,” Stoltenberg noted.

Ukraine should “do its own job,” Alexander Vinnikov, director of the NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine, who attended the commission meeting, told The Day about what was going on “behind the closed doors.” In his words, NATO countries assured us of political and practical support but emphasized that “Ukraine should redouble its efforts to carry out reforms and make more effective changes.” So we have a great deal of “homework” to do and are pressed for time because there is a sad tendency: Ukraine “has never missed a chance to miss a chance.”