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Ukraine hosts NATO war games
Published: 13 July, 2010, 08:09
Edited: 14 July, 2010, 03:56
At Sea: US Navy shows the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Farragut (DDG 99) passing by the smoke from a suspected pirate ship it just destroyed on March 31, 2010. (AFP Photo / Cassandra Thompson)
(9.8Mb) embed videoUkraine has welcomed a fleet of NATO warships for a two-week period of military drills. Operation “Sea Breeze-2010” will focus on joint anti-terror exercises, despite Kiev’s decision not to enter the alliance.
The US-led task force arrived on Monday at the invitation of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovich. Some 3,000 international military personnel are said to be involved in the drills.
Ukraine began hosting the Sea Breeze exercises in 1997, as part of its commitment to join the alliance. In 2009, the Ukrainian parliament voted against the drills, curtailing former President Viktor Yuschenko’s efforts to seek NATO membership.
This year, however, the parliament approved the training session after Kiev vowed to abandon its membership bid.
However, Ukraine’s Socialist Party has been opposed to any cooperation with NATO, organizing rallies to protest the drills along the coast of the Black Sea, where Sea Breeze is currently being hosted.
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27 comments
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Anon, Thank you Progressive socialists of Uktaine, you represent the future of peaceful humanity. Good for standing up to this symbol of naked imperialism. Ukrainia's current President is trying to follow the lead of the strong man of Belarus to gain more leverage from Russia. This is disgrace. War games are rehearsal for the real thing- never forget that.
Well, it is a nice time of year to be sailing around the Black Sea and I guess all the navy guys look forward to meeting some girls in Odessa. It is a great jolly for them, the local Ukraine bars and restaurants should get some business out of it and I guess some Russian guys will be taking lots of photos, filming, noting radio frequencies, etc. So, everyone should be happy as Ukraine will still not be joining NATO, regardless of any such exercises. Although, I notice this has not been news in the West, so I guess they don't want the tax payers who foot the bill for all this to know how their money is being spent.
@Anon Well isn't Russia helping NATO in moving provisions to Afghanistan?