Rada approves pro-NATO reforms at president urgings

Ukraine’s parliament approved on Sept. 17 a law to
reform foreign intelligence/reconnaissance structures to bring them closer to
NATO requirements. The bill was approved in the second, final reading by 258
MPs, compared to 226 needed. It identifies Ukraine’s intelligence bodies as the
Defense Ministry, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the intelligence
division of the State Border Service. It outlines the legal and organizational
basis for the functioning of intelligence, the legal status and social
guarantees of intelligence employees, and the order of intelligence oversight.
Intelligence bodies are responsible for the timely securing of information, the
realization of Ukraine’s national interests and combatting foreign threats to
national security.

Earlier that day, President Zelensky called for
activating reforms aimed at receiving an invitation for a NATO Membership
Action Plan (MAP) at the opening ceremony for Rapid Trident 2020 military
training exercises in the Lviv region. He mentioned that he signed earlier that
week Ukraine’s national security strategy, based upon which NATO membership is
the state strategic course. “We should achieve the mutual compatibility of
Ukraine’s Armed Forces with the corresponding structures of the alliance’s
states maximally quickly,” the president said, as reported by the
eurointegration.com.ua news site.

The National Security Strategy signed by Zelensky is
Ukraine’s third such document, the news site said. Although NATO is mentioned
less than half as many times as in the previous security strategy (issued in
2015), its NATO goals are more ambitious. The 2015 document calls for “the
development of a special partnership with NATO” for “forming the conditions for
NATO entry.” Instead, the 2020 document calls for “the development of a special
partnership with NATO with the goal of gaining full NATO membership” as being
“the state’s strategic course.” At the same time, the document drops the goal
of becoming part of the NATO Reflection Process of renewing the organization’s
strategy, which should be a priority, the eurointegration.com.ua news site said
in the article published on Sept. 15.

Zenon Zawada: This NATO
chapter in the Zelensky presidency is merely the latest example of its politics
of trying to take advantage of all its available resources for the short term,
while accomplishing little for the long term. The Zelensky administration is
willing to cooperate with any foreign entity – be it the U.S., the IMF, the
E.U. and Russia – as long as it brings some immediate political dividends. In
this case, it has decided to ingratiate itself upon the alliance (with no
realistic chance for a MAP for as long the war is being waged) in exchange for
closer cooperation that could include more military exercises, more supplies,
or in the most unlikely case, a NATO peacekeeping mission.

We view these moves with cynicism because at the same
time that Zelensky is singing the praises of NATO integration, he is allowing
Ukraine’s Putinist fifth column to gain key positions in government (particularly
law enforcement), to wage its current campaign to dismantle the independent
anti-corruption legal framework, and to pressure him to capitulate to Russian
demands in Donbas, among other “Euro-Atlantic sins.” That pro-NATO legislation
was passed last week (and almost certain to be signed by Zelensky) means little
if Zelensky allows the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and Specialized
Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office to lose their independence. Or if local
elections are allowed to be held in Donbas in late October, which are likely to
be unfree and unfair. 

As the example of Belarusian President Lukashenko
has shown, the West won’t be satisfied with mere flirtations and small
exchanges. The West wants a complete commitment from Ukraine that requires a
fundamental transformation of the nation’s institutions and policies, without
which the declarations of this national security strategy will be dismissed as
hollow. So far, Zelensky has shown he is a mere flirt, and not a serious,
committed partner of the West.