The New Edition of the Military Doctrine of Ukraine

President Petro Poroshenko signed a Decree to enact the NSDC decision of September 2, 2015 “On the New Edition of the Military Doctrine of Ukraine”.

Under the document, Ukraine is currently facing an acute military threat – Russian armed aggression, which includes temporary occupation of Crimea and aggression in certain areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Possible Russia’s military buildup in close proximity to the state border, inter alia, deployment of tactical nuclear weapons in Crimea, militarization of temporarily occupied territories, presence of military contingent of Russia in Transnistria, intensification of Russian special forces in reconnaissance and subversive activities aimed to destabilize the internal situation in Ukraine pose a great threat to our country as well.

The activity of illegal armed groups in Ukraine aimed to destabilize the internal social and political situation, intimidate people, suppress their will to resist, disrupt functioning of the state authorities, industries and infrastructure is another threat.

The Doctrine outlines military-political challenges that can transform into a threat of using military force against Ukraine. The first of them are Russia’s interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine, counteraction to the European choice of Ukrainians and to the formation of collective security system with participation of Ukraine.

The Doctrine also stipulates scenarios that can endanger military security of Ukraine. The main scenario is full-scale armed aggression of Russia against Ukraine with decisive military-political goals.

The main purposes of military politics, under the Doctrine, are based on the fact that “Ukraine wants to maintain friendly relations with all countries of the world based on the international agreements concluded on the basis of equality, non-interference in internal affairs, mutual respect for independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

The Military Doctrine stipulates that the key task aimed to create conditions for the restoration of state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is comprehensive reform of the national security system to a level acceptable for the membership in the European Union and NATO; creating an effective security and defense sector, which provides ample capacity of national defense to repel armed aggression. Another purpose is the development of AFU under the western standards and achievement of interoperability with NATO Forces.

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