Ukraine’s Modern History and NATO

by Ihor Ostash, in Embassy, March 25, 2009

The contemporary history of Ukraine is the history of a European state which is committed to sharing and protecting the common values and responsibilities of its European family, promoting peace and security, and further strengthening the Euro-Atlantic area.

A course towards integration into the Euro-Atlantic security structures and future NATO membership is one of the key foreign policy priorities of Ukraine. This strategic course is written in the Ukrainian laws and has no alternatives, as has been repeatedly emphasized by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. This is our way to ensure our sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and prosperity.

Ukraine started its dialogue with NATO soon after gaining independence when, in March 1992, it joined the North-Atlantic Co-operation Council. Later, this dialogue was significantly expanded and is currently developing within the framework of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and NATO-Ukraine Commission, established according to the NATO-Ukraine Charter signed in 1997.

Ukraine became the first post-Soviet country to join the Partnership for Peace Framework Document on January 10, 1994, and is successfully using the NATO experience and aid to reform its defence and security sectors to reach military compatibility with NATO allies’ armed forces, as well as deepening co-operation in other spheres of mutual concern.

Ukraine is the only non-NATO country that participates in every alliance peacekeeping activity. Kyiv has been and will remain a reliable partner for Western efforts to build regional stability.

We make our contribution to fight terrorism and keep public order under the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Ukraine has also opened its air space for NATO aircraft within the framework of this operation, and has pledged to provide military and technical assistance to Afghanistan. We suggest using Security Service of Ukraine facilities to instruct and train Afghan special forces and services. As well, Ukraine is committed to increase further its capabilities in Afghanistan.

Other Ukrainians continue their efforts in the NATO Kosovo Force, as well in the anti-terrorist Operation Active Endeavour in the Mediterranean Sea. Ukraine is considering an opportunity to increase the number of its personnel in the NATO training mission in Iraq.

All this is nothing less than solid proof that our country remains committed to providing strong support for the alliance’s peacekeeping and humanitarian missions and operations.

Nowadays, Ukraine pays serious attention to the development of practical co-operation with NATO, widening the spheres of interaction, demonstrating that we are an active contributor to the collective security rather than merely a consumer.

We joined the Air Situation Data Exchange program, which will assist the joint fight against terrorism, while last year, the decision was made that our country will take part in the NATO Response Force.

Active work is underway to widen our co-operation with NATO in the spheres of cyber defence, the fight against piracy, and implementation of the United Kingdom/France initiative to strengthen the alliance’s helicopter capabilities. Ukraine constantly provides its services for the strategic airlift needs of the alliance.

We consistently develop co-operation in combating trafficking in human beings, drugs, weapons and money laundering. There is also fruitful interaction in the fields of ammunition destruction, civil emergency response, environmental security and civil emergency planning, technology and environmental rehabilitation of former military facilities, retraining and social re-integration of discharged military personnel.

As you see, it takes some time just to enumerate the different aspects of our co-operation with NATO.

Without exaggeration, last year was crucial for the development of relations between Ukraine and NATO. The Bucharest summit decision on Ukraine’s future membership in the alliance and December’s ministerial decision about the Annual National Program (ANP) gave us the effective and sufficient ground to move forward on our Euro-Atlantic course.

Nowadays, we concentrate our efforts primarily on the elaboration of the first ANP. We look at the ANP as an effective and sufficient format for our preparation and meeting the criteria for future NATO membership.

At the same time, we are taking into account the importance of public support for our move towards Euro-Atlantic integration. With this in mind, the Government of Ukraine is providing the necessary information and is educating the people about the role and place of NATO in the modern system of international relations, as well as on Ukraine’s relations with the alliance within the framework of the 2008-2011 State Program on Informing Ukrainian Society on Euro-Atlantic Integration. Active work in this sphere has already brought about some positive results. Latest polling shows that 30 per cent of Ukrainians stand for joining NATO as soon as possible. This number shows the rise in support of the Euro-Atlantic course by 10 per cent compared to the previous survey in April-June 2008.

We hope that the reinforced NATO information and liaison offices in Kyiv will also play an active role in the popularisation of NATO in Ukraine.

Last year saw efforts at all levels become more active than ever to prove that Ukraine’s NATO aspirations are not false but a vital foreign policy priority of our country. Active consultations at different levels are more evidence of the true nature of our course. This is seen in the unprecedented political activity of Ukrainian and NATO officials. This dialogue has been constantly deepened and strengthened by increasing the number of high-level contacts at NATO-Ukraine Commission meetings, visits of the Ukrainian prime minister, vice-prime minister, ministers and deputy ministers for foreign affairs and defence, emergency and other top officials to Brussels.

The NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting on March 5 of this year showed that our intentions to maintain an active dialogue with NATO and our progress towards NATO membership remain unchanged.

At the NATO Jubilee Summit, April 3-4, NATO’s new Strategic Concept, was discussed, aimed at strengthening the role of NATO in the world. We are sure that the policy of enlargement—the so-called “open-door policy”—is one of the key elements of NATO’s success today and in the years to come. And we are confident that Ukraine’s membership in the alliance will contribute to further stability in the region as well as in the world as a whole.

Our path towards NATO membership is a challenging one, but we are deeply inspired to walk it until reaching our goal, shoulder to shoulder with our NATO partners.

Canada has been a strong supporter of Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations. This could be seen in a number of statements from senior government officials, in particular Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s statement during the NATO Bucharest Summit in April 2008, as well as in Canada’s letter to support Ukraine’s accession to the Membership Action Plan (MAP).

Ukraine highly appreciates this support and the support of all NATO member-states who share a view that further enlargement of the alliance with Ukrainian membership will only strengthen the geopolitical weight of the organisation and help it address common issues for the mutual benefit of the Euro-Atlantic community.

We have already done a lot on our part. We are ready for further persistent work. And I am sure that, in the end result, we will achieve our goal—membership in NATO.

 Dr. Ihor Ostash is Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada.