You're reading: NATO welcomes approval of bill on national security by NSDC

NATO has welcomed the endorsement by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of the bill on national security of Ukraine and is waiting for its speedy adoption by the parliament, Director of NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine Alexander Vinnikov has said.

“With regard to the law on national security, we believe that this is the fundamental component that should ensure the formation of a legislative groundwork for carrying out activities in all areas of defense reform. In this context, I can only welcome the adoption of the bill on national security (its approval at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council) on January 17,” Vinnikov said during the meeting of the Reforms Committee at the Defense Ministry of Ukraine on January 23.

He added that the Alliance “is eagerly awaiting the adoption of this bill by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine in the near future.”

“Our counterparts and experts are ready to work together on this document and on a number of by-laws that should ensure the implementation of this important law,” the director of the NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine reported.

According to him, the work, which was conducted for 18 months together with foreign advisers and specialists, “did not go to waste.” “The proposals were taken to the account. It is possible that the provisions of the draft law are far from ideal, but the bill that we saw in December maximally reflects the principles and standards of the Euro-Atlantic community, lays down the principles of democratic civil control and provides the proper grounds for the further implementation of the defense reform,” Vinnikov said.

As reported, the bill approved by NSDC on January 17 should lay the groundwork for drafting and upgrading the national security and defense legislation.

The bill on Ukraine’s national security should generalize and harmonize all reforms in the country’s security and defense sector already carried out and scheduled and combine not only basic foundations of national security, but also the issues of democratic civil control and the foundations of planning in these domains, NSDC Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov said.

“The soonest possible enactment of this bill should become an important element in the sphere of protecting Ukrainian statehood and countering Russian aggression,” he said.