I. About NATO
II. Ukraine's special partnership with NATO
III. Euro-Atlantic integration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
iv. Informational materials
I. About NATO NATO (
NATO) — The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an international organization established on April 4, 1949 for the collective defense of the countries of Western Europe and North America in accordance with the principles of Article 51 of the United Nations Charter. In accordance with the founding documents of the Alliance, NATO's primary role is to ensure the freedom and security of member states using political and military means. NATO adheres to the Alliance's shared values of democracy, individual freedom, the rule of law and the peaceful resolution of disputes and upholds these values throughout the Euro-Atlantic region. The core principle of the Alliance is a commonality of views between North American and European NATO members who share the same values and interests and are committed to the preservation of democratic principles, which makes the security of Europe and North America inseparable. The Alliance stands to defend its member countries from the threat of aggression:
the main military-political principle of the organization is the system of collective security, that is, the joint organized actions of all its members in response to an attack from outside.
Under the Washington Treaty, each Alliance member state has additional responsibilities and benefits from participating in the collective security system. Article 5 states that an armed attack on one or more NATO members shall be treated as an attack on all members and that “they shall agree that, in the event of such an attack, each of them shall render assistance to the Party or Parties attacked and shall immediately carry out, individually or jointly with other Parties, such actions deemed necessary, including the use of armed force, in order to restore and maintain security in the North Atlantic region. Such unprecedented guarantees of security, territorial integrity, inviolability of borders and state sovereignty are not provided by any of the collective security systems available today.
Currently, there are 30 NATO members. In 1949, the Alliance was created by 12 founding countries, namely Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Later NATO members were Greece and Turkey (year of accession 1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) and North Macedonia (2020). Any member state has the right to withdraw from the Alliance.
The basis for the enlargement process of the Alliance is enshrined in Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Article 10 states that any “European State capable of promoting the principles of this Treaty and contributing to the maintenance of security in the North Atlantic region” may join NATO.
Any decision on the invitation of new members shall be approved by the North Atlantic Council, the highest political decision-making body.
decisions in NATO based on consensus among all member states. Flexibility of NATO membership
By signing the Treaty, States voluntarily undertake to participate in the political consultations and military activities of the Organization. Although each of the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty has obligations under the Treaty, there is a certain degree of flexibility whereby Member States may decide what their participation will be. NATO is developing an extensive partnership system that includes the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, special partners Ukraine, Georgia, the Mediterranean Dialogue countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia), the Istanbul Initiative (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE), Western European neutral countries (Austria, Ireland, Malta, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden), as well as contact countries (Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan).
In 2014, the Alliance ceased practical cooperation with the Russian Federation after its aggression against Ukraine, but left the NATO-Russian Council of communication and began a policy of deterrence of the Russian Federation.
Detailed information on NATO: https://ukraine-nato.mfa.gov.ua/pro-nato
II. Ukraine's special partnership with NATO The
defining documents in Ukraine-NATO relations that remain relevant to this day are the Charter on the Special Partnership between Ukraine and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (09.07.1997) and the Declaration supplementing the Charter on the Special Partnership (21.08.2009). Formally, Ukraine-NATO relations were established in 1991, when Ukraine joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (since 1997 — the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council). Ukraine was the first among the states of the former USSR to join the NATO Partnership for Peace Program (08.02.1994). In recent years, a number of acts of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine (Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine) and documents signed by the President of Ukraine have laid strong foundations for our country's Euro-Atlantic course aimed at Ukraine's acquisition of full membership in NATO, in particular:
June 21, 2018 The Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law “On National Security of Ukraine”, which entered into force on July 8, 2018. In February 2019, amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine entered into force as part of the strategic course for Ukraine's acquisition of full membership in the EU and NATO. In accordance with the amendments, the President of Ukraine is the guarantor of the implementation of the strategic course of the state for Ukraine to acquire full membership in the EU and NATO. September 14, 2020 The President of Ukraine signed the National Security Strategy of Ukraine, which emphasizes the strategic importance of relations with NATO.
I. Political dialogue The political dialogue between Ukraine
and the Alliance is carried out at all levels and in all directions. The leading role in deepening this dialogue belongs to the NATO-Ukraine Commission (KUN), established in 1997 to implement the provisions of the Special Partnership Charter. On 8-9 July 2016, by the decision of the Warsaw Summit, Ukraine received a Comprehensive Assistance Package from the Allies. With his support, the so-called Hybrid Platform was created — a platform for joint study of the hybrid war unleashed by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.
On April 3-4, 2019, the foreign ministers of NATO member states, during events on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the formation of the Alliance, approved the Black Sea Security Package, which provided for additional assistance to Ukraine.
On June 4, 2019, during the visit of the President of Ukraine V. Zelensky to NATO headquarters, the allies reaffirmed their commitment to help Ukraine in carrying out reforms that will bring the country closer to NATO membership.
On October 31, 2019 in Kyiv, with the participation of President of Ukraine V.Zelensky, a meeting of the UN was held on the security situation in eastern Ukraine, the reform of the country and the further deepening of Ukraine-NATO cooperation. The Third Review of the Alliance's Comprehensive Assistance Package for Ukraine was approved and the corresponding final statement was adopted.
On June 12, 2020, Ukraine was recognized as Enhanced Opportunities Partner (EOP) by the decision of South Africa NATO. With the recognition of the status of PRM for Ukraine on the political agenda, the question of determining the directions and parameters of interaction of the parties in this format was raised. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 made significant adjustments to the dynamics of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO. In particular, the planned October 2020 joint exercises on the protection of critical infrastructure in the Black Sea region have been postponed to 2021.
Ukraine is involved in NATO measures to counter the spread of COVID-19 through the use by the Alliance Member States of Ukrainian aircraft AN-124 and AN-225 as part of the NATO SALIS program.
II. Annual national programmes under the auspices of the Ukraine-NATO Commission Since 2009, the basis for the reform of the security and defence sector
of Ukraine has been the annual national programmes (NRPs) under the auspices of the UN. RNP approval is the prerogative of the President of Ukraine.
Since 2018, the functions of coordination of the RNP cycle are performed by the Government Office for the Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the SCMU.
October 2, 2018 The Decree of the President of Ukraine approved the Regulation on the development of RNPs and evaluation of the results of their implementation. According to this provision, each section of the NRP contains a description of the reforms in the relevant areas, the strategic objective of the reforms, objectives and priority tasks are defined. The RNP plays the role of Ukraine's step-by-step preparation program for NATO membership. An integral part of the RNP are the annexes, in which the time frames are spelled out in detail and those responsible for the implementation of specific actions are determined along with the performance indicators/indicators of the effectiveness of the implementation of the RNP. RNA-2020 defines the following priorities: achieving compliance with NATO membership criteria, bringing Ukraine's security and defense sector to NATO standards, and strengthening democratic civilian control.
III. Ukraine-NATO Practical Cooperation The
Commission for the Coordination of Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine, established on July 21, 2016, is an auxiliary body under the President of Ukraine. To ensure effective cooperation under the auspices of KUN are:
4 Joint Working Groups (JRGs):
on military reform (SRG VR);
on defense and technical cooperation (SRGO);
on cooperation on science and the environment (CIS);
for planning in case of civil emergencies (SRG
PNS).
The main objective of the SRG of the Verkhovna Rada (founded in 1998) is to promote the support of the military-political dialogue and to involve the Alliance in the reform of the security and defence sector. Under the auspices of this group, a number of projects are being implemented that contribute to the reform of the security and defense sphere, namely:
on the fight against corruption (NATO Initiative to strengthen integrity and transparency, reduce corruption risks in defence and security institutions);
professional training of civilian personnel in the security and defence sector;
reform of the military education system in Ukraine;
retraining and social protection of discharged servicemen.
Cooperation under the Program “Science for Peace and Security” (NSDAP) has been ongoing since 1991 and is recognized as successful by all Alliance countries whose representatives participated in NSMB projects (NATO is currently implementing 28 projects with the involvement of Ukraine). Since 2014. Ukraine ranks first among the partner countries of the Alliance in terms of the number of scientific projects and the amount of their funding under the NSMB Program. Examples of successful cooperation are projects such as “Cyclotron” in Kharkiv, “URAN” for the network of Ukrainian technical institutes, a project on humanitarian demining, strengthening the capabilities of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, telemedicine, etc. Actually, all of them contribute to the development of scientific research in Ukraine and strengthening the defense capabilities of the state. At the same time, they strengthen the Alliance in the scientific field.
Cooperation in the field of civil protection of the population takes place within the framework of the Joint Working Group on Civil Emergency Planning (CRG PNS). In NATO, the leading role in this activity belongs to the Emergency Planning Committee (CPSC), which has been the Euro-Atlantic Coordination Centre for Disaster Response (EACCRC) since 1998. Its main tasks include the exchange of information and coordination of cooperation in the response to disasters. The main tasks of the PNS SRG are the planning and coordination of joint activities according to the areas of interest. The activities of this SRG are considered as an integral part of the work of the CNS and its subordinate units in the REAP format.
Ukraine takes an active part in the international exercises of the Alliance for Disaster Response. Currently, cooperation with NATO in this direction is subordinated to the task
creation in Ukraine of a national system of resilience to challenges and threats of a different nature. At the last meeting of the UNHCR (January 2020), Ukraine's achievements in implementing an emergency resilience system at the national level were discussed, as well as the implementation of the recommendations of the NATO Advisory Group of Experts (which was in Ukraine in 2019).
III. Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs On November
22, 2018, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the draft law No. 9037 on amendments to the Constitution in terms of consolidating the strategic course of the state towards the acquisition of full membership of Ukraine in the European Union and NATO.
The fundamental documents defining the content, nature and establishing the contractual and legal basis of Ukraine's “special partnership” relations with NATO and regulating Ukraine's cooperation with the Alliance are the Framework Document of the NATO Program “Partnership for Peace” of 10 January 1994, the Charter on the Special Partnership between Ukraine and NATO of 9 July 1997 and Law of Ukraine “On Principles of Domestic and Foreign Policy” of July 01, 2010.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs, as an integral part of the security and defense sector of Ukraine, is part of the national Euro-Atlantic integration coordination system of Ukraine and is actively involved in cooperation with the NATO Party within the framework of the nationwide course on acquiring membership in this organization.
Considering the Euro-Atlantic course of our country's foreign policy and the intensification of support from NATO member countries, cooperation with NATO is one of the priority directions of development.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and the bodies of the Ministry of Internal Affairs system participate in many initiatives and programs within the framework of cooperation with NATO, namely in:
Force Planning and Evaluation Process (PPOS);
Joint NATO Training;
Individual Partnership Program (IPP); Military Education Improvement Program (DEEP); Civilian Personnel Professional Development
Program (PDP);
Working with Trust Funds; NATO Integrity Building Initiative (Initiative) Initiative VI); NATO
Program “Science for Peace and Security”; Cooperation in the field of response to civilian emergencies; Ukraine-NATO
Platform on
studying the experience of countering hybrid warfare
Within the framework of cooperation, considerable attention is paid to the implementation of a wide range of areas, including: creation of effective planning and budgeting system, reduction of corruption risks, creation of a national resilience system, strategic communications, countering hybrid threats, cyber security, medical and psychological rehabilitation, protection of human rights, gender policy, communication and information systems, achievement of operational interoperability, humanitarian demining, vocational training and education, Implementation of NATO standards.
iv. Information materials.
Detailed information at https://ukraine-nato.mfa.gov.ua/ukrayina-nato
