The first meeting of the Security Committee, one of four
committees to the U.S.-Ukraine Binational Commission recently
created by Vice President Al Gore and President Leonid Kuchma,
took place on Nov. 4, 1996 in Washington, D.C. In the spirit of
strategic partnership between the two countries, both sides
reaffirmed the importance of sustained and expanded cooperation
in order to effectively coordinate joint security efforts between
the United States and Ukraine.
The co-chairs of the Security Committee are Colonel-General
Vasyl Sobkov, deputy defense minister and commander of the ground
forces of Ukraine, and Franklin C. Miller, acting assistant
Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy. Other
U.S. participants included James Collins, ambassador-at-large
and special coordinator for the Newly-Independent States, Steve
Pifer, senior director of Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian Affairs
at the National Security Council, and Ambassador to Ukraine
William G. Miller. Ukrainian participants were Ambassador of
Ukraine Yuri Shcherbak, V.P. Tutunyk of the National Security and
Defense Council of Ukraine, and M.V. Osnach of the Ministry of
International Affairs.
The Committee was created to strengthen the policy dimension
of existing working-level contacts between the Ukrainian Ministry
of Defense and the U.S. Department of Defense and to ensure that
existing defense and military contacts are consistent with and
supportive of mutually-shared security objectives. Both sides
agreed that the Committee will serve as a forum in which to:
- examine international and national security issues that
are of mutual interest to the
United States and Ukraine;
- coordinated the implementation of relevant treaties and
agreements between the two
sides;
- propose appropriate recommendations to the governments
of the United States and
Ukraine.
In the course of its first session, the participants of the
Security Committee discussed and signed a work plan. They also
discussed questions of bilateral military contacts, Ukraine-NATO
relations, and Ukraine's participation in international
peacekeeping operations.
The Security Committee agreed that its future work should be
directed toward ensuring the following objectives:
- promoting Ukraine's external security through
strengthening of the Ukrainian military;
- promoting Ukraine's integration into European and
Transatlantic security structures;
- promoting US-Ukrainian military-technical cooperation
and defense industry
conversion;
- promoting compliance with international arms control
and non-proliferation norms.
More detailed discussion on restructuring and development of
Ukraine's Armed Forces took place from Oct. 3 to Nov. 2 at Ft.
Benning, Ga.,., during sessions of the US-Ukraine Joint Staff
Talks and Bilateral Working Group. In the course of these
meetings, the 1997 Defense and Military Cooperation plan between
the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Department of Defense
of the United States was discussed and signed. Other issues
discussed during these meetings were Ukraine's participation in
the Partnership for Peace, the International Military Education
and Training Program, and future joint and multilateral exercises
in which Ukraine will participate.
The Ukrainian side expressed its gratitude for the
assistance that the United States has given Ukraine since 1992 in
the area of Ukraine's national security and for its active
support and assistance to the Committee in its first stage of
activity.
The Committee also underscored the importance of cooperation
between the United States and Ukraine on counter-narcotics and
counter-terrorism. However, taking into account that these
issues are not principally under the jurisdiction of the Defense
Department, the Committee feels that it would be useful to deal
with these topics under other Committees of the US-Ukraine
Binational Commission.
The Committee will report on its activities to the Vice
President of the United States and the President of Ukraine.
Both sides agreed to hold the next session of the Security
Committee in the first quarter of 1997.
