Leavenworth Strategist

(US) Military exercise in Georgia complete

Release Date: Jul 31, 2008 By Army Capt. Bryan Woods

VAZIANI TRAINING AREA, Georgia — Military personnel from Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan and the United States stood together here at the closing ceremony for this year's Immediate Response exercise.

At the closing ceremony, Army Brig. Gen. William B. Garrett III, exercise director for Immediate Response stated, "I am very pleased to report that all exercise objectives have been met."

Garrett highlighted the hundreds of live-fire and situational training exercises; combat lifesaver classes; Improvised Explosive Device training; and the computer-based command post exercise to train the Georgian 4th Infantry brigade staff, as some of the objectives.

Exercise Sea Breeze 2008 Concludes

Navy NewsStand
Story Number: NNS080729-02  Release Date: 7/29/2008 5:25:00 AM
By Commander, Naval Forces Europe - U.S. 6th Fleet Public Affairs

ODESSA, Ukraine (NNS) -- Exercise Sea Breeze 2008 (SB08) concluded July 28 with a closing ceremony highlighting participants' achievements during the 11th annual maritime exercise.

Adm. Mark P. Fitzgerald, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Commander, Allied Joint Force Command Naples, attended the ceremony.

SB08, incorporating 16 countries and more than 2,000 service members, is a joint and combined maritime exercise held annually in the Black Sea and at various land-based Ukrainian training facilities with the goals of strengthening maritime security and stability, sharing information and building teamwork and mutual cooperation.

Russia warns Ukraine over NATO, Black Sea Fleet dispute

(RIA Novosti) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told his Ukrainian counterpart on Friday that Kiev's plans to join NATO run counter to the bilateral treaty on friendship, Russia's foreign minister said on Friday.

Medvedev also cautioned Viktor Yushchenko at a meeting near St. Petersburg against unilateral steps to expel Russia's Black Sea Fleet from naval facilities leased from Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov said after the meeting.

"Ukraine's membership in such an alliance [NATO] cannot be treated as friendly toward Russia," Lavrov said.

Ukraine reaffirms wish to join NATO, says no threat to Russia

May 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Ukrainian president reaffirmed his country's aspiration to join NATO while on a three-day visit to Canada and thanked the Canadian parliament for its support of Kiev's bid.

Viktor Yushchenko addressed the Canadian parliament and held talks with Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday aiming to boost support for the country's NATO bid, which he said posed no threat to any country.

Yushchenko said that NATO membership for Ukraine was motivated by the long years of repression his country suffered as part of Soviet Union, citing the 1932-33 famine or Holodmor, which claimed up to 10 million lives. Harper pledged to back a bill formally recognizing the Holodmor as a deliberate act of genocide.

Alliance Invites In Croatia, Albania

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 3, 2008; A08

BUCHAREST, Romania, April 2 -- NATO's political leaders agreed Wednesday night to admit Croatia and Albania into the military alliance, but after a vigorous debate they effectively rejected President Bush's bid to put two former Soviet republics on the path to membership.

The invitations to Croatia and Albania will bring NATO membership to 28 countries, the organization's first expansion in six years as it renews its push to integrate Europe under a common security umbrella. The alliance will not, however, accept a third Balkan state, Macedonia, because Greece decided to veto its application because of a long-standing dispute over the former Yugoslav republic's name.

Bush Backs Ukraine NATO Bid

April 1, 2008

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- President Bush on Tuesday vowed full support for Ukraine and Georgia's NATO aspirations, saying Russia would have no veto over the ex-Soviet states' membership bids.

In Kiev ahead of a NATO summit, the president said he would work ''as hard as I can'' to overcome Moscow's objections and concerns from some in the trans-Atlantic military alliance about starting the admission process for the two nations.

''Your nation has made a bold decision and the United States strongly supports your request,'' Bush told Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko two days before NATO leaders meet in Bucharest, Romania to decide on a so-called ''membership action plan,'' or MAP, for both Ukraine and Georgia.

''In Bucharest this week, I will continue to make America's position clear: we support MAP for Ukraine and Georgia,'' he said after talks with Yushchenko. ''My stop here should be a clear signal to everybody that I mean what I say: It's in our interest for Ukraine to join.''

NATO says near deal on Russian Afghan help

(Reuters) NATO said on Saturday it was nearing a deal to use Russian land and airspace to supply its security forces in Afghanistan, but Western diplomats denied any trade-off with Moscow to keep Ukraine and Georgia out of NATO.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said he was hopeful of increased cooperation with Russia. An alliance spokesman said NATO was negotiating accords on land and air corridors for its troops and equipment, which could be announced when President Vladimir Putin attends a NATO summit next month.

"I hope that Afghanistan might be an area where NATO and Russia can make strides to cooperate more closely together," de Hoop Scheffer told a security conference in Brussels.

Ukraine to outlaw NATO bases

(Independent)

The Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has promised to pass a law outlawing Nato military bases on his country's territory just a day after Vladimir Putin had threatened to point nuclear missiles at Ukraine if the country joined the alliance.

Last month Mr Yushchenko and Ukraine's pro-Western Prime Minister Julia Timoshenko asked Nato to begin considering Ukrainian membership -- a move strongly criticised by Moscow.

After meeting the Ukrainian leader on Tuesday, Mr Putin said that Nato membership could well mean that Nato military bases would be placed in Ukraine, and that Russia would be forced to respond. "I am not only terrified to utter this, it is scary even to think it," said Mr Putin. "Russia would have to target its offensive rocket systems at Ukraine."

Ukraine set to propose 'concrete steps' for NATO membership

22/01/2008 16:31 KIEV, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian Defense Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov proposed during a meeting with a top NATO official on Tuesday concrete steps aimed at strengthening cooperation with the 26-nation alliance.

"If the alliance takes a positive decision on Ukraine joining the NATO Membership Action Plan, the Ukrainian defense ministry has concrete proposals on transforming the [Annual] Target Plan into the NATO Membership Action Plan," a Ukrainian Defense Ministry press statement later quoted Yekhanurov as saying during his meeting with Jiri Sedivy, NATO assistant secretary general for defense planning policy and planning.

Russia to respond 'appropriately' to Ukrainian NATO membership

MOSCOW, January 22 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the country would have to take "appropriate measures" if Ukraine were to join NATO.

A Ukrainian government letter to the NATO chief, setting out the country's bid to join an action plan to gain membership of the Western military alliance, was published in Kiev last week.