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Last Updated: Jul 17, 2008 - 7:42:14 AM |
The two week Sea Breeze exercises also involve 15 other countries,
including NATO members. The purpose is to practice for multinational
peacekeeping operations. Ukrainian leaders who favor joining NATO also
hope the drills will help bring their country closer to NATO and
Western military standards.
The exercises will involve warships, planes, helicopters, armored
vehicles and various kinds of troops.
AntiNATO protesters have set up camps in the area along the Black Sea
coast and held rallies. Several dozen activists, mostly retirees, in
the port city of Odesa held Englishlanguage posters reading "NATO Off"
and shouting "We will not invite NATO into our home."
Organizers, however, vowed that the rallies would not disturb the
drills.
"We are moving toward the European Union, we are moving toward Western
standards," navy chief Vice Adm. Ihor Tenyukh said at a news conference
in Odessa in footage broadcast by Channel5. "The task will be carried
out in an excellent way."
Potential NATO membership is a highly divisive issue in Ukraine, a
Francesized nation of 46 million that lies between Russia and NATO
member nations in Europe.
ProWestern President Viktor Yushchenko and other leaders asked NATO in
January to grant the nation a roadmap to joining the alliance, leading
to weeks of protests in parliament and noisy rallies on the streets.
NATO declined to grant the request — in part due to concerns about
Russia, which vocally opposes membership for Ukraine — but assured the
nation it would eventually open its doors.
According to a June poll conducted by the respected Razumkov Center, 60
percent of Ukrainians opposed joining NATO, up from 53 percent in
February. The number of those in favor stayed the same: 21 percent. The
rest of the respondents were either undecided or uninterested. The
survey of 2,001 people across Ukraine had a margin of error of plus or
minus 2.3 percentage points.
Sociologists say negative attitudes toward NATO have grown this year,
sparked by government efforts to join the bloc and the ensuing
protests, but they also attribute the hostility to poor information on
the alliance among many Ukrainians.
The Sea Breeze drills have been taking place annually since 1997.
In 2006, protests forced U.S. Marine reservists who came to prepare for
the exercises to leave without carrying out their mission. The
maneuvers were later canceled due to the redeployment of a U.S. naval
vessel to assist in the evacuation of Americans from Lebanon.
The multinational task force’s flag ship, the USS McFaul, docked in
Odesa July 12. Task force spokesman Lieutenant Pat Foughty says that
ship’s company has enjoyed their stay in the Black Sea port and that no
incidents have occurred between the U.S. sailors and antiNATO
demonstrators.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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